Ex-FBI chief Comey argues 2020 testimony can’t sustain false statements case

WASHINGTON – Former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director James Comey on Oct 30 expanded his legal challenge to a Trump administration criminal case

accusing him of making false statements,

saying his testimony was truthful and would not substantiate the charge.

In a legal filing, Comey’s lawyers said his 2020 Senate testimony was “literally true” and prompted by ambiguous questions from Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas.

“Fundamental to any false statement charge are both clear questions and false answers,” Comey’s lawyers wrote in the filing. “Neither exists here.”

The filing is Comey’s latest attempt to have the charges thrown out before a trial. He has pending challenges arguing the US attorney who brought the case was unlawfully appointed and that he is being unfairly targeted because of Mr Trump’s “personal spite” against him.

A US Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment.

Prosecutors are due to respond to Comey’s claims in court filings in November.

Comey is accused of lying during the hearing when he said he stood by prior testimony that he had not authorised anyone at the FBI to be an anonymous source in news reports about investigations into US President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival in the 2016 election, Mrs Hillary Clinton. Comey has pleaded not guilty.

The former FBI director, who investigated alleged ties between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia, was the first of three of Mr Trump’s perceived political enemies to be criminally charged in recent weeks.

The US Justice Department also brought charges against New York Attorney-General Letitia James, who filed a civil fraud lawsuit against Mr Trump while he was out of power, and Mr Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton, who has publicly said Mr Trump is unfit to be president.

Comey’s case was brought by Ms Lindsey Halligan, the top federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia. Ms Halligan, a former personal lawyer for Mr Trump with no prior prosecutorial experience, was put in the role at Mr Trump’s urging after he forced out her predecessor, who was reluctant to charge Comey and James.

The Oct 30 motion takes aim at the substance of the allegation that Comey’s statement to Mr Cruz was false.

Mr Cruz, in questioning Comey about disclosures to the news media, discussed the role of Comey’s former top deputy Andrew McCabe in leaking information to the Wall Street Journal in 2016. But the indictment accuses Comey of authorising a different associate, identified in court filings as former FBI special employee and law professor Daniel Richman, to act as an anonymous source.

Comey’s lawyers argue that Comey could reasonably have interpreted Cruz’s questions to relate only to McCabe and not generally to anyone at the FBI.

Comey has previously testified he did not know about McCabe’s disclosure to the Wall Street Journal until after the article was published. REUTERS