Comey's Lawyers: Case is Retalitory    10/21 06:19

   

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- Lawyers for former FBI Director James Comey urged a judge 
Monday to dismiss the case against him, calling it a vindictive prosecution 
motivated by "personal animus" and orchestrated by a White House determined to 
seek retribution against a perceived foe of President Donald Trump.

   The lawyers separately called for the indictment's dismissal because of what 
they said was the illegitimate appointment of the U.S. attorney who filed the 
case days after being hastily named to the job by Trump.

   The two-prong attack on the indictment, which accuses Comey of lying to 
Congress five years ago, represents the opening salvo in what is expected to be 
a protracted court fight ahead of a trial currently set for Jan. 5. The motions 
challenge not only the substance of the allegations but also the unusual 
circumstances of the prosecution, which included Trump exhorting his attorney 
general to bring charges against Comey as well as his administration's abrupt 
installation of a White House aide to serve as top prosecutor of the elite 
office overseeing the case.

   "Bedrock principles of due process and equal protection have long ensured 
that government officials may not use courts to punish and imprison their 
perceived personal and political enemies," wrote Comey's defense team, which 
includes Patrick Fitzgerald, the former U.S. Attorney in Chicago and a longtime 
Comey friend. "But that is exactly what happened here."

   They said the Justice Department had brought the case because of Trump's 
hatred of Comey, who as FBI director in the early months of Trump's first term 
infuriated the president through his oversight of an investigation into 
potential ties between Russia and Trump's 2016 campaign. Trump fired Comey in 
May 2017. The two have been open adversaries since, with Comey labeling Trump 
"unethical" and comparing him to a mafia boss and Trump branding Comey an 
"untruthful slime ball" and calling for him to be punished because of the 
Russia investigation.

   "The government has singled out Mr. Comey for prosecution because of his 
protected speech and because of President Trump's personal animus toward Mr. 
Comey," defense lawyers wrote, adding that such a "vindictive and selection 
prosecution" violates multiple provisions of the Constitution and must be 
dismissed.

   Comey's defense team had foreshadowed the arguments during his first and 
only court appearance in the case, where he pleaded not guilty.

   Though motions alleging vindictive prosecutions do not often succeed, this 
one lays out a timeline of events intended to link Trump's demands for a 
prosecution with the Justice Department's scramble to secure an indictment last 
month just before the statute of limitations was set to lapse.

   Last month, for instance, he complained in a Truth Social post directed to 
Attorney General Pam Bondi that "nothing is being done" on investigations into 
some of his foes and called for action, specifically referencing inquiries into 
Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James and Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff 
of California.

   "JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!" part of the message said.

   He installed Lindsey Halligan, a White House aide who had been one of 
Trump's personal lawyers but had no experience as a federal prosecutor, to run 
the Eastern District of Virginia and replace Erik Siebert, who had resigned as 
U.S. attorney one day earlier amid administration pressure to charge Comey and 
James. Comey was indicted days later.

   Comey's lawyers argued that that social media post represented an admission 
that the government was prosecuting Comey for "an impermissible discriminatory 
purpose."

   "For many years, President Trump has sought to prosecute or otherwise punish 
Mr. Comey because of overt hostility to Mr. Comey's protected speech and 
because of his personal bias against Mr. Comey," the attorneys said.

   "But despite President Trump's yearslong campaign to prosecute Mr. Comey, no 
career or appointed prosecutor had ever agreed to do so," they added. "Thus, 
Mr. Trump made clear to his Attorney General that the only way to achieve 
'JUSTICE' against Mr. Comey was by ousting Mr. Siebert and installing Ms. 
Halligan."

   The indictment accuses Comey of having misled the Senate Judiciary Committee 
on Sept. 30, 2020, in response to questions from Republican Sen. Ted Cruz about 
whether Comey had authorized a news media leak. But Comey's lawyers say the 
indictment misstates his exchange with Cruz, attributing to Comey statements he 
did not make.

   The defense team says the indictment omits context from Cruz's question that 
made clear he was asking Comey if he had authorized his deputy director, Andrew 
McCabe, to serve as an anonymous source to the news media. The lawyers say the 
indictment misleadingly suggests the questioning from Cruz concerned another 
person, a Columbia law professor and Comey friend named Daniel Richman. An 
earlier FBI investigation into whether Comey had disclosed classified 
information through Richman concluded there was insufficient evidence to charge 
either man.

   Defense lawyers in a separate motion argued that the case was "fatally 
flawed" because Halligan was unlawfully appointed before she signed the 
indictment late last month.

   "The President and Attorney General appointed the President's personal 
lawyer as interim U.S. Attorney in violation of a clear statutory command so 
that the interim U.S. Attorney could indict an outspoken critic of the 
President just days before the relevant statute of limitations was set to 
expire," defense lawyers said.

   That motion is expected to be heard by a different judge than the trial 
judge, Michael Nachmanoff.

   Halligan is not the only U.S. attorney facing a court challenge.

   A federal appeals court in Philadelphia heard arguments Monday in a case 
challenging the tenure of Alina Habba as New Jersey's top federal prosecutor. A 
panel of judges did not immediately rule but questioned the propriety of 
maneuvers meant to keep Habba in her job.

   Separately Monday, defense lawyers pushed back in court papers on a 
suggestion by the Justice Department that Fitzgerald might have to step aside 
from the case.

   Prosecutors late Sunday asserted in a court filing that Comey's "lead 
defense counsel" had earlier been used by Comey to disclose classified 
information and might therefore need to be disqualified. The defense team 
Monday called that allegation "provably false" and defamatory.