Washington — The indictment of former FBI Director James Comey on Thursday marked the fruits of President Trump’s yearslong need to see considered one of his political foes punished after the bureau’s investigation into his 2016 presidential marketing campaign and Russian meddling in that election.
However the president’s long-held ire towards Comey, coupled together with his newest feedback cheering the federal fees introduced in opposition to the previous FBI chief, might assist protection attorneys in a possible bid to have the case in opposition to Comey tossed.
“On this case, the info earlier than the indictment and even feedback Trump made after the indictment present robust factual proof that Mr. Comey is the sufferer of both selective or vindictive prosecution,” Gene Rossi, a former federal prosecutor who labored on the Justice Division for almost 30 years, instructed CBS Information.
A federal grand jury returned an indictment in opposition to Comey charging him with two counts: making false statements to Congress and obstructing a congressional continuing. It declined to indict him on an extra rely of mendacity to Congress, a rare rejection of a proposed cost.
The costs stem from Comey’s September 2020 testimony earlier than the Senate Judiciary Committee, throughout which he denied authorizing anybody on the FBI to be an nameless supply in information reviews.
Whether or not to hunt an indictment had been met with pushback from profession prosecutors within the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the Japanese District of Virginia, which is prosecuting the case. Workers within the workplace had circulated a “declination” memo explaining why legal fees shouldn’t be filed in opposition to Comey, a Justice Division supply instructed CBS Information.
However days earlier than Comey was charged, and after the abrupt departure of Erik Siebert as the highest prosecutor within the Virginia workplace, Mr. Trump installed a White House aide and his former private protection lawyer Lindsey Halligan as Siebert’s substitute.
Halligan has no prosecutorial expertise. Solely she signed Comey’s indictment, and Halligan stays the one legal professional listed as representing the U.S.
Comey denied any wrongdoing, and mentioned in a video shared to social media, “I am harmless, so let’s have a trial and preserve the religion.” His lawyer, Patrick Fitzgerald, mentioned Comey might be vindicated in court docket.
Authorized consultants count on Fitzgerald will search to have the case dismissed on quite a few grounds, together with selective prosecution, which is when the prosecutor seems motivated by discriminatory intent, and vindictive prosecution, when the federal government acts out of “real” animus or seeks to punish a defendant for exercising a authorized proper.
Carissa Byrne Hessick, a legislation professor on the College of North Carolina College of Regulation, mentioned claims of selective or vindictive prosecution are tough to prevail on, and it is powerful to foretell whether or not Comey will achieve convincing a decide to dismiss his fees on these grounds.
Courts are typically hostile to these claims — the authorized customary is excessive for proving them and judges are involved about opening the floodgates to most of these motions, Hessick mentioned. However alternatively, Comey’s case might look totally different than others given the occasions main as much as his indictment, specifically the appointment of Halligan and reviews of inside disagreement over in search of fees, she mentioned.
“The combination of these two issues — the truth that these kinds of instances are very onerous to win, but in addition the weird circumstances and the supply of proof — I believe makes it too tough to foretell what a court docket will do right here,” Hessick mentioned.
Mr. Trump has for years railed in opposition to Comey publicly, claiming he ought to be prosecuted for “treason” and calling him “corrupt,” “silly” and a “soiled cop,” amongst different insults. In a social media post Saturday, the president made a direct enchantment to Lawyer Basic Pam Bondi for motion in opposition to Comey and two different political opponents: New York Lawyer Basic Letitia James and Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California.
Mr. Trump wrote the three are “responsible as hell” and mentioned, “We will not delay any longer, it is killing our repute and credibility. They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 occasions!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!”
The president then cheered Comey’s indictment Thursday night time.
“One of many worst human beings this Nation has ever been uncovered to is James Comey, the previous Corrupt Head of the FBI,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social. “At present he was indicted by a Grand Jury on two felony counts for numerous unlawful and illegal acts. He has been so dangerous for our Nation, for therefore lengthy, and is now at first of being held accountable for his crimes in opposition to our Nation. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
The assaults on Comey continued Friday, with Mr. Trump calling him a “destroyer of lives” who should pay a “very large worth” for mendacity.
“Whether or not you want Corrupt James Comey or not, and I am unable to think about too many individuals liking him, HE LIED!” Mr. Trump wrote. “It isn’t a fancy lie, it is a quite simple, however IMPORTANT one. There isn’t any manner he can clarify his manner out of it. He’s a Soiled Cop, and at all times has been.”
Rossi mentioned the years of feedback made by Mr. Trump from the spring of 2017 — when the president fired Comey throughout his first time period — to now, might bolster Comey’s bid to have the fees dismissed.
“Whether or not vindictive or selective, this animus, the hatred, the bias towards who’s charged, these feelings and components change into extremely related,” he mentioned.
But it surely’s not simply feedback from Mr. Trump that might come into play. Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel additionally cheered the fees in opposition to Comey, with Patel claiming Comey and different high FBI officers weaponized federal legislation enforcement once they led the bureau.
“They’re placing their thumb on the size of justice as an alternative of letting Woman Justice deal with this matter blindly,” Rossi mentioned. “That violates each norm — each norm — {that a} federal prosecutor is taught from the time they’re born as child prosecutors.”
He mentioned the grand jury’s rejection of the third rely, mendacity to Congress, is “one other brick within the wall” in assist of Comey transferring to dismiss the fees due to vindictive and selective prosecution, as is the opposition to pursuing an indictment by profession prosecutors within the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the Japanese District of Virginia. Below Justice Division policy, prosecutors might pursue indictments provided that they imagine they’ll safe a conviction and that conviction might be sustained on enchantment.
“That seasoned and profession prosecutors, plus the previous U.S. legal professional for the EDVA, all mentioned that this indictment does not have a authorized and factual foundation to current to the grand jury, and that [Halligan] was appointed three days earlier than this cost was accepted by the grand jury is all ample proof that one thing is rotten in Denmark,” Rossi mentioned.
Comey’s case is exclusive in comparison with others the place claims of selective or vindictive prosecution are raised for quite a few causes, Hessick mentioned: It entails people who find themselves newsworthy; there are media reviews in regards to the resolution to carry fees; Mr. Trump has publicly spoken about motion in opposition to Comey; and the fees in opposition to him seem to contain congressional testimony about investigations into Mr. Trump or Clinton.
“The case can also be notable as a result of this is not only a query of the motives of the particular prosecutor who introduced the fees,” she mentioned. “It is also in regards to the president’s selections to talk publicly a few case that is a high-profile political case.”
Hessick mentioned that in earlier administrations, presidents are sometimes — however not at all times — cautious to not remark about ongoing instances.
Mr. Trump sought to have legal fees introduced in opposition to him by former particular counsel Jack Smith in every of the 2 instances dismissed for vindictive and selective prosecution, however one of many requests was denied. The 2 instances, one involving the 2020 election and the opposite involving Mr. Trump’s dealing with of delicate authorities paperwork after his first time period, have been dismissed after he won a second time period within the White Home.
Hunter Biden, former President Joe Biden’s son, additionally unsuccessfully sought to have his indictment on tax fees dismissed on the identical grounds, arguing the investigation into him was “compromised by politics.”
Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to the charges final 12 months.
contributed to this report.
