Justice Department defends Trump’s post as it urges judge to reject Comey’s effort to dismiss case
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department on Monday urged a federal judge to deny the request. James Comey claim this his prosecution It amounts to political revenge, arguing that the former FBI director did not show that he was targeted as punishment for his criticism of the Republican president.
Prosecutors defended President Donald Trump’s September social media post demanding action in the Comey investigation, arguing that it reflected “legitimate prosecutorial motive” and was not a basis for dismissing the indictment accusing Comey of lying to Congress in 2020.
The filing underscores that Trump’s comments put the Justice Department, like Comey and others, in a difficult position. The defendants evaluated the president’s words in their efforts to have their cases dismissed before trial. Comey’s lawyers told the judge last month: the charges should be dropped because they were revealed due to “personal grudge” on the instructions of the president. Attorney for New York Attorney General Letitia James, Another Trump foe charged in mortgage fraud investigationHe signaled that he would present a similar argument.
The Justice Department acknowledged that Trump’s social media posts reflected the president’s view that Comey “committed crimes that should be prosecuted” and that “the President may even argue against the defendant.” But prosecutors argued there was “no direct evidence of a vindictive motive.”
“The defendant spins a story that requires leaps of logic and a large dose of skepticism, then characterizes it as a direct admission of the President’s office,” prosecutors wrote. “There is no direct admission of discriminatory intent. On the contrary, the President’s only direct admission is that Justice Department officials, not he, decide whether to file a lawsuit.”
The disagreement arguably concerns the most closely followed of Comey’s various challenges to the indictment; Comey’s lawyers are citing not only Trump’s public demands for the prosecution of those he views as enemies, but also his long-standing disdain for the former FBI director he fired during his first term amid the Russian election interference investigation.
Patrick Fitzgerald, the former U.S. attorney in Chicago and a longtime friend of Comey, argued that Trump’s social media post calling on Attorney General Pam Bondi to prosecute Comey and other longtime foes “amounts to a direct admission of discriminatory intent to single out a perceived political enemy.”
Defense separately objects to appointment White House aide The person who was brought in as the US attorney after the head of the elite office that conducted the investigation was dismissed by the Trump administration.
The indictment comes just days after Trump appointed White House aide Lindsey Halligan, one of Trump’s personal attorneys but no previous experience as a federal prosecutor, to replace Erik Siebert as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. Trump announces support for Halligan a day after Siebert Resigned as US attorney Amid the administration’s push to impeach Comey and James.
Comey’s attorneys last week requested to review transcripts and audio recordings of the grand jury hearing in the case, saying factual and legal errors may have been presented to the grand jury that returned the indictment, which could warrant dismissing the charges.
The lawsuit accuses Comey of lying to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 30, 2020, in response to questions about whether he allowed the FBI to leak leaks to members of the news media.
The government’s filing reveals a series of communications between Comey and Columbia University law professor and close friend Daniel Richman; This was intended to show that the then-FBI director encouraged Richman to contact reporters and share Comey’s perspective on politically fraught issues surrounding investigations into both Trump and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Pointing to interactions with Richman, prosecutors say Comey lied to the Senate panel about whether he authorized those investigations to be disclosed to reporters.
But Comey’s lawyers say the case should be dismissed because the questions Comey answered from Sen. Ted Cruz were so vague and vague that it was impossible for Comey to have the necessary intent to lie.
For example, they note that Cruz’s questions about whether Comey had given the green light to media statements ultimately did not mention Richman, but instead referred to another person, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.
“In doing so, Senator Cruz never indicated that he intended Mr. Comey to address the statements or activities of any person other than Mr. McCabe,” Comey’s lawyers said.
