Legal Expert Offers View On Whether Comey’s Case Will Be Dismissed
Former FBI Director James Comey’s bid to have his case thrown out before trial is a long shot, according to MSNBC legal analyst Danny Cevallos.
Comey was indicted Thursday on charges of making false statements to Congress and obstructing a congressional investigation tied to his September 2020 testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Prosecutors allege he lied when denying that he had authorized an FBI official to serve as an anonymous source — part of a wider pattern of dishonesty surrounding the bureau’s Trump–Russia investigation.
Appearing on Ana Cabrera Reports, Cevallos explained why Comey’s defense faces an uphill climb. “The problem with these motions is that they have a 0 to 1 percent chance of succeeding. Although I’ll say if ever there was a case for selective prosecution, there is every element of it here,” he said.
Cevallos noted that “virtually all federal prosecution is selective by nature,” and judges are reluctant to dismiss such cases before trial. “So as much as Comey would want to knock it out in the beginning, realistically the case may proceed beyond the motions,” he added.
Court records show Comey is scheduled to be arraigned in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, on October 9. While some officials initially expected him to surrender last week, no arrest warrant was issued, and instead he has been summoned to appear.
The indictment follows the release of a CIA memorandum in July suggesting that both Comey and former CIA Director John Brennan may have misled Congress under oath about the role of the discredited Steele Dossier in the Intelligence Community’s 2017 assessment.
President Donald J. Trump, who for years called Comey a “dirty cop” and accused him of running cover for the Russia hoax, celebrated the indictment on Truth Social.
“Whether you like Corrupt James Comey or not, and I can’t imagine too many people liking him, HE LIED!” Trump wrote. “It is not a complex lie, it’s a very simple, but IMPORTANT one. There is no way he can explain his way out of it.”
Comey, for his part, struck a defiant tone in a statement posted to Instagram, portraying himself as a victim of political retaliation. “My family and I have known for years that there are costs to standing up to Donald Trump, but we couldn’t imagine ourselves living any other way,” he claimed.
He added, “My heart is broken for the Department of Justice, but I have great confidence in the federal judicial system. I’m innocent. So let’s have a trial and keep the faith.”
For many conservatives, however, the indictment is long-overdue accountability for a man who oversaw the FBI’s unprecedented political spying operation against a sitting president. With trial now looming, Comey faces the justice he long believed he was above.