Former FBI Director James Comey pleaded not guilty Wednesday to two federal crimes a federal grand jury in Virginia charged him with last month. Comey now awaits a January 5 trial in the Eastern District of Virginia. The charges brought by the Justice Department include making a false statement to Congress and obstruction of a congressional proceeding.
He is accused of lying about authorizing a leak to the media during his time as director when questioned about it during a 2020 Senate hearing. As per MSNBC, Comey served as FBI director when President Donald Trump first took office but was quickly fired for refusing to drop an investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. In the years since, he has remained a vocal critic of Trump and a constant target of the president’s anger.
Neither charge seems particularly strong or even serious, and even if acting U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan manages to get a conviction, it is entirely possible that Comey will serve little to no jail time. The real purpose behind this prosecution may not be getting a conviction at all. When Trump was standing trial in New York in 2024, one person close to him told The Washington Post that “the phrase around here is ‘the process is the punishment.'”
Trump’s Revenge Campaign Targets More Than Just Comey
The very act of having to show up at court day in and day out was meant to humiliate Comey. Comey having to defend himself at all can be seen as his punishment for having gone against Trump’s early demands for loyalty.
New York Attorney General Letitia James and Senator Adam Schiff may soon find themselves in the same situation. Trump has never been quiet about his dreams of revenge for the various investigations, impeachments and criminal and civil cases brought against him over the years.
Schiff served as lead impeachment manager against Trump in 2020. James successfully brought a civil case against the Trump Organization in 2022, getting a fraud conviction that remains despite massive fines being thrown out by a New York appeals court this year.
Both Schiff and James are now under federal investigation in Maryland and New York over claims of mortgage fraud. The investigations were started after referrals from William Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Attorney General Pam Bondi separately named Ed Martin as a “special attorney” in August to look into James’ and Schiff’s mortgages as well. Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is also reportedly under investigation by Trump’s Department of Justice over his testimony to Congress about his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Neither the Schiff investigation nor the James investigation appears to be going anywhere. MSNBC correspondents Carol Leonnig and Ken Dilanian reported Monday that a “top prosecutor in Virginia has informed colleagues she plans to decline to seek charges” against James. It was reported last month that Martin “appears to have scant evidence showing that the alleged wrongdoing was anything more than paperwork errors.”
Halligan’s rush to prosecute Comey clearly shows what a determined Trump loyalist can do if she places winning his approval over winning in court. U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert resigned under pressure from Trump in late September after he refused to bring charges against Comey. His departure opened the door for Halligan’s sudden appointment and her rush to beat the statute of limitations.
She went after charges against Comey despite a memo from career prosecutors “documenting why they believed probable cause did not exist” for an indictment. The same approach could be used against James or Schiff should Martin or Halligan manage to get indictments against them.
Published: Oct 9, 2025 01:34 pm