Former FBI Director James Comey pleaded not guilty Wednesday morning to federal criminal charges sought by President Donald Trump.
Judge Michael Nachmanoff set Comey’s trial to begin on January 5 in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia.
Mr. Comey’s lawyer, Patrick Fitzgerald, and prosecutors said they expected the trial to last just a few days.
According to NBC News, Fitzgerald said he plans to file legal papers soon asking Nakhanov to dismiss the case on grounds of retaliatory and selective prosecution.
Comey is accused of obstructing Congress by making false statements during testimony before a Senate committee in 2020.
Comey, who was fired as FBI director by President Trump in 2017, is accused of lying during testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 30, 2020.
That same day, Comey denied that he had allowed other FBI officials to serve as anonymous sources in news reports about the investigation into then-2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and her emails.
Two federal prosecutors from North Carolina have been assigned to work on Mr. Comey’s case, in an apparent sign that Lindsay Harrigan, the interim prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia, is having trouble getting prosecutors in her office to work on the case.
Mr. Halligan was appointed to the position by Mr. Trump shortly after his predecessor, Eric Siebert, resigned under Mr. Trump’s pressure after reportedly being reluctant to indict Mr. Comey by a grand jury.
Fitzgerald told Nakhanov on Wednesday that Harrigan’s appointment was “illegal,” according to NBC.
Mr. Fitzgerald also said he plans to file a motion in court soon over what he calls “abuse” and “outrageous government conduct” of the grand jury that Mr. Harrigan personally sought to indict Mr. Comey.
Nakhanov and Fitzgerald disputed prosecutors’ claims that the case was complex and would involve a large amount of classified information and documents.
“We view this as a simple case,” Fitzgerald said.
“This doesn’t seem to be a very complicated case,” Nakhanov said.
He cited a requirement that prosecutors turn over evidence related to the case to Comey’s defense team before trial and warned prosecutors that “just because the government doesn’t immediately turn everything upside down, it’s not going to delay this case.”
Battles over the pace and amount of information exchanged during a process called “discovery” often muddy criminal cases.
“The government is going to be under a lot of pressure to figure out what action to take here,” Nakhanov said.
“I’m not afraid,” Comey said in an Instagram video response after he was indicted in late September.
“My family and I have known for years that standing up to Donald Trump comes at a cost,” Comey said in the video.
“But we couldn’t imagine living any other way. We’re not going to live on our knees, and neither should you.”
