Washington — The indictment of former FBI Director James Comey on Thursday marked the end result of President Trump’s yearslong need to see certainly 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 prices introduced in opposition to the previous FBI chief, might support protection legal professionals in a possible bid to have the case in opposition to Comey tossed.
“On this case, the details earlier than the indictment and even feedback Trump made after the indictment present sturdy 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 a further rely of mendacity to Congress, a uncommon 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 stories.
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 prison prices 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 put in a White Home 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 lawyer listed as representing the U.S.
Comey denied any wrongdoing, and stated in a video shared to social media, “I am harmless, so let’s have a trial and preserve the religion.” His lawyer, Patrick Fitzgerald, stated Comey might be vindicated in courtroom.
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 Faculty of Regulation, stated claims of selective or vindictive prosecution are tough to prevail on, and it is robust to foretell whether or not Comey will reach convincing a decide to dismiss his prices on these grounds.
Courts are usually hostile to these claims — the authorized commonplace is excessive for proving them and judges are involved about opening the floodgates to these kind of motions, Hessick stated. However alternatively, Comey’s case might look totally different than others given the occasions main as much as his indictment, particularly the appointment of Halligan and stories of inside disagreement over looking for prices, she stated.
“The combination of these two issues — the truth that these kinds of instances are very exhausting to win, but additionally the bizarre circumstances and the provision of proof — I feel makes it too tough to foretell what a courtroom will do right here,” Hessick stated.
Mr. Trump has for years railed in opposition to Comey publicly, claiming he must be prosecuted for “treason” and calling him “corrupt,” “silly” and a “soiled cop,” amongst different insults. In a social media submit Saturday, the president made a direct attraction 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 stated, “We will not delay any longer, it is killing our fame 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 evening.
“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 Reality Social. “As we speak he was indicted by a Grand Jury on two felony counts for varied unlawful and illegal acts. He has been so unhealthy for our Nation, for thus lengthy, and is now firstly of being held answerable 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 huge 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’s not a posh lie, it is a quite simple, however IMPORTANT one. There isn’t a means he can clarify his means out of it. He’s a Soiled Cop, and all the time has been.”
Rossi stated 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 costs dismissed.
“Whether or not vindictive or selective, this animus, the hatred, the unfairness towards who’s charged, these feelings and components turn into extremely related,” he stated.
However it’s not simply feedback from Mr. Trump that might come into play. Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel additionally cheered the costs in opposition to Comey, with Patel claiming Comey and different high FBI officers weaponized federal legislation enforcement after they led the bureau.
“They’re placing their thumb on the dimensions of justice as an alternative of letting Woman Justice deal with this matter blindly,” Rossi stated. “That violates each norm — each norm — {that a} federal prosecutor is taught from the time they’re born as child prosecutors.”
He stated the grand jury’s rejection of the third rely, mendacity to Congress, is “one other brick within the wall” in assist of Comey shifting to dismiss the costs 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 coverage, prosecutors might pursue indictments provided that they consider they will safe a conviction and that conviction might be sustained on attraction.
“That seasoned and profession prosecutors, plus the previous U.S. lawyer for the EDVA, all stated that this indictment would 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 authorized by the grand jury is all ample proof that one thing is rotten in Denmark,” Rossi stated.
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 stated: It includes people who find themselves newsworthy; there are media stories in regards to the choice to carry prices; Mr. Trump has publicly spoken about motion in opposition to Comey; and the costs 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 precise prosecutor who introduced the costs,” she stated. “It is also in regards to the president’s choices to talk publicly a couple of case that is a high-profile political case.”
Hessick stated that in earlier administrations, presidents are sometimes — however not all the time — cautious to not remark about ongoing instances.
Mr. Trump sought to have prison prices 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, had been dismissed after he gained 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 prices dismissed on the identical grounds, arguing the investigation into him was “compromised by politics.”
Hunter Biden pleaded responsible to the costs final 12 months.
contributed to this report.
