Former FBI Director James Comey wants his case thrown out over ‘vindictive prosecution’ fueled by Trump’s ‘personal spite’
Former FBI Director James Comey has asked a federal judge to throw out the Trump administration’s criminal case against him, calling it “vindictive” and an “egregious abuse of power”.
In a motion filed in federal court in Virginia on Monday, Comey’s lawyers accused the Department of Justice of giving into President Donald Trump’s “personal spite” and “animus” by illegally seeking to punish him for his years of criticism.
“The government has singled out Mr. Comey for prosecution because of his protected speech and because of President Trump’s personal animus,” the lawyers wrote.
“Such a vindictive and selective prosecution violates the First Amendment, the Due Process Clause, and equal protection principles.”
Anything less than dismissal with prejudice, they added, “would be insufficient in light of the government’s flagrant misconduct and the need to deter the government from bringing further unconstitutional prosecutions.”
In support of their motion, Comey’s lawyers attached a list of roughly 188 social media posts by Trump in which he railed against Comey as a “liar”, a “dirty cop”, and “one of the worst human beings this country has ever been exposed to.”
In a separate motion, the lawyers accused Trump’s federal prosecutor Lindsey Halligan of being improperly appointed to her post without Senate approval.
Federal prosecutors have charged Comey with obstruction and lying to Congress in 2020 during testimony over his role in the Trump-Russia investigation four years before.
But those charges only came after multiple prosecutors had resigned over their reported refusal to go after Comey, leading Trump — after publicly demanding that Comey be prosecuted — to finally replace them with his former personal lawyer Lindsey Halligan.
Halligan then submitted an indictment, signed by her and nobody else, which Comey’s lawyers say was highly unusual. A grand jury in Virginia rejected her first charge, approving the other two with a majority of 14 to 23.
Comey has pleaded not guilty to both charges.
“President Trump ordered the Department of Justice to prosecute Mr. Comey because of personal spite and because Mr. Comey has frequently criticized the President for his conduct in office,” Comey’s lawyers wrote on Monday.
“When no career prosecutor would carry out those orders, the President publicly forced the interim U.S. Attorney to resign and directed the Attorney General to effectuate ‘justice’ against Mr. Comey.
“He then installed a White House aide with no prosecutorial experience as interim U.S. Attorney…. days before the relevant statute of limitations was set to expire.”
