James Comey asks judge to dismiss charges alleging “retaliation” and illegal appointment of prosecutor

Former FBI Director James Comey He asked a federal judge on Monday to dismiss the Justice Department’s criminal case against him, arguing it was a “retaliatory and selective prosecution,” and U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan was illegally appointed.

Comey, 64, faces federal charges of lying to Congress and obstruction of justice as a result of the FBI’s long-running investigation into alleged collusion between President Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Russian officials. He has pleaded not guilty to both.

But his lawyers claimed that his trial was purely personal.

“(T)he government designated Mr. Comey for prosecution because of his protected speech and because of President Trump’s personal animosity toward Mr. Comey.” Lawyers for the former FBI director He wrote in a proposal to District Judge Michael Nachmanov.

Comey’s lawyers assert that Trump “ordered” the Justice Department to prosecute their client “out of personal malice and because Mr. Comey has repeatedly criticized the President for his conduct in office.”

The motion continues: “When no prosecutor carried out those orders, the President publicly forced the interim U.S. Attorney to resign and ordered the Attorney General to carry out ‘justice’ against Mr. Comey.”

Comey’s legal team says Trump’s real September 20 social media post Directed at Attorney General Pam Bondi, the president appears to be pressuring the Attorney General to go after his political rivals, including former FBI chief, New York Attorney General Letitia James and Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA).

“Less than 48 hours after President Trump took office, Lindsey Halligan was sworn in as interim U.S. Attorney for this district,” the filing notes.

Halligan, referred to in the lawsuit as Trump’s “new interim U.S. attorney hand-picked,” replaced former U.S. Attorney Eric Seibert in the Eastern District of Virginia and obtained a grand jury indictment against Comey days later.

The file includes an attachment 60 pages The value of Trump’s harsh criticism of Comey since he took office She fired him in May 2017 To show “genuine hostility toward” Comey.

“He called Mr. Comey a ‘leaker and a proven liar’ and a ‘weak, dishonest ball of goo,’ and stated that Mr. Comey should be prosecuted,” Comey’s lawyers wrote, referring to some of Trump’s first social media posts attacking Comey from 2018.

They continued: “During the Biden presidency, Mr. Trump’s attacks on Mr. Comey were sporadic until 2024 when Mr. Comey publicly warned during the campaign that a second Trump term would have “dangerous” implications for the Department of Justice and the FBI, because Trump was coming for these institutions.”

“Then-candidate Trump responded by calling Mr. Comey a corrupt liar who made mistakes.”

Comey’s team acknowledges that “dropping federal criminal charges under these principles has been rare,” claiming that this is “because for decades the Department of Justice has maintained the highest standard of ethics, following only the facts and the law to determine whether to bring criminal charges.”

The charges stem from testimony Comey gave during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on September 30, 2020, in which the former FBI chief denied allowing leaks about Trump’s management to the media.

Republicans say he lied because his FBI deputy “publicly and repeatedly stated that he leaked information to the Wall Street Journal” and that Comey “directly authorized it.”

In a separate filing, Comey’s lawyers say the “indictment is fatally flawed” by alleging that Halligan’s appointment was illegal – and therefore the indictment should be dismissed.

Seibert’s 120-day deadline to serve as interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia expired on May 21, the lawsuit notes. Seibert was allowed to exceed the 120-day limit after district judges unanimously agreed to retain him beyond his temporary appointment.

Comey’s team contends that the judges in the Eastern District of Virginia should have chosen his replacement when he left office, not the Trump administration.

“When Mr. Seibert resigned on September 19, 2025, the district court again had exclusive authority to appoint the interim U.S. Attorney. But instead of waiting for the district court to choose, the U.S. Attorney purported to appoint Ms. Halligan — even though the 120-day period ‘after appointment by the U.S. Attorney under this section’ had long since expired,” the filing said.

Comey faces up to five years in prison if convicted of the two charges against him: making false statements and obstruction of justice.

He pleaded not guilty to both charges earlier this month.