Former FBI Director James Comey pleaded not guilty in federal court on Wednesday.
Comey is charged with lying to Congress and obstruction of a criminal proceeding related to his 2020 testimony about Russian interference in the 2016 election. He faces up to five years in prison if he is convicted.
The indictment alleges Comey lied when he told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he had not “authorized someone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source in news reports." The DOJ contends Comey had authorized a person to serve as an anonymous source regarding an FBI investigation, which he denies.
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He was indicted just days after President Donald Trump appeared to urge his attorney general to prosecute his political opponents.
The case was filed in the Eastern District of Virginia, whose chief prosecutor recently resigned amid reported pressure from the Trump administration to charge New York Attorney General Letitia James in a mortgage fraud probe.
Trump replaced her with Lindsey Halligan, a White House aide who previously represented him in the Mar-a-Lago documents case but lacks the federal criminal experience typical for the role.
During Wednesday's hearing, the defense said it plans to argue this was a vindictive prosecution and outrageous government conduct. It will also challenge Halligan's appointment.
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The president and his allies have long decried the Russia investigation as a "hoax" and "witch hunt." However, multiple government reviews have shown Moscow did interfere in the 2016 election on behalf of the Trump campaign.
