Prosecutors defend indictment in Comey case after defense questions

By Brett Rowland
The Center Square

Prosecutors defended how they presented the criminal case against former FBI boss James Comey to a grand jury after defense attorneys said the indictment failed to meet legal standards.

Defense attorneys had not filed a motion to challenge the indictment as of Thursday morning, but made it clear in court Wednesday they didn’t think it would pass scrutiny.

Michael Dreeben, an attorney for Comey, said: “There is no indictment.”

He also said the statute of limitations for the charges expired Sept. 30, making the claimed misstep “tantamount to a complete bar” on the prosecution.

In September, federal prosecutors alleged that Comey lied to Congress when he denied claims that he leaked classified documents to a news outlet over the Trump-Russia election interference hoax investigation. The two-page indictment charged Comey with making false statements to Congress and obstruction of justice related to leaked documents to The New York Times.

In a filing late Wednesday, prosecutors defended their handling of the grand jury.

“The record shows that a duly constituted grand jury considered the presented indictment and returned a true bill as to only Counts Two and Three,” Assistant United States Attorney N. Tyler Lemons wrote. “Considering Gaither and controlling Supreme Court and Fourth Circuit precedent, the government course of conduct here was permissible and proper.”

Comey’s defense also argued that the charges against the former FBI boss were the result of selective or vindictive prosecution. That can be a high bar to prove. President Donald Trump tried the same thing in several of the case filed against him in the run up to the 2024 election. Trump was convicted in New York, but three other cases against him stalled or were dismissed.

U.S. District Judge Michael Nachmanoff, a Biden appointee, ordered both sides to provide him with answers to how the case should proceed.

The defense had not responded as of Thursday morning.