‘Gravity of the Charges’ Delays James Comey Arraignment Until 2027 as Judge Weighs Motions To Dismiss

The delay of the arraignment of former FBI Director James Comey on charges that he threatened President Trump’s life suggests that getting to opening statements — let alone a conviction — could prove a challenge for the government.The arraignment at a North Carolina courthouse was set for Wednesday, but over the weekend, Judge Louise Flanagan issued an order pushing it to January. The delay was requested by Mr. Comey’s team and was unopposed by the Department of Justice. The trial is now expected to begin in February.In granting the delay, Judge Flanagan cited “the gravity of the charges, pending motions, and the need to provide defense counsel additional time to prepare for trial promote need for continuance.” Mr. Comey was indicted in April on two criminal counts stemming from an Instagram post featuring seashells on a beach arranged in an “86 47” formation. The Justice Department alleges that “86,” which has long been restaurant slang for “to nix,” can also mean to kill — in this case, a lethal threat directed at the 47th president.Mr. Comey denies that reading and asserts, “I didn’t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence. It never occurred to me, but I oppose violence of any kind, so I took the post down.” The Supreme Court held in 2023’s Counterman v. Colorado decision that the First Amendment permits prosecution of true threats and established a subjective mens rea, or “guilty mind,” requirement for certain threat prosecutions.Mr. Comey has moved to dismiss the case on several grounds, motions that Judge Flanagan will have to dispose of before a trial can begin. His attorneys contend that the charges are “not based on a good-faith application of the law to the facts; instead, it effectuates a yearslong campaign by the President to use the criminal process to punish Mr. Comey for his protected speech and because of the President’s deep-seated animosity.”Last year, Mr. Comey was charged in a separate case in Virginia. Prosecutors allege that he lied to Congress in 2020 about leaks concerning the investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. That case was dismissed after Judge Cameron McGowan Currie ruled that the acting United States attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Lindsey Halligan, was unlawfully appointed by Attorney General Pam Bondi.Before that dismissal, Mr. Comey moved to dismiss those charges — which were handed up five days before their statute of limitations expired — as “selective and vindictive.” Judge Currie did not reach a ruling, as the case was mooted when Ms. Halligan was disqualified. The Justice Department has appealed that disqualification ruling to the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which heard oral arguments last week. A panel appeared skeptical of the Justice Department’s case for reversal.Mr. Comey has also claimed that this second indictment is “selective and vindictive” — a claim that Judge Flanagan is now weighing. Prosecutors, though, write that “there is no serious dispute that an objective viewer of Comey’s post could read it to mean ‘Kill President Trump.’”The Department of Justice contends that Mr. Comey acted “recklessly by consciously disregarding a substantial risk that his coded message of ‘8647’ that he sent to his 200,000 or so Instagram followers, and the millions of secondary social media users who would view this as threatening violence against the President of the United States.”The Supreme Court held in 1969’s Watts v. United States, though, that even a statement like “If they ever make me carry a rifle, the first man I want to get in my sights is L.B.J.” did not amount to a “true threat.” The court found that, in context, the statement constituted political hyperbole rather than a punishable threat.The government also points to a novel Mr. Comey published last year, “FDR Drive,” as proof that its author knew the meaning of “86 47.” The Justice Department writes that “just days before releasing a book about a charismatic public figure who publicly conveys messages instructing his followers to ‘get rid of’ his political enemies, Comey posted a message that many observers, including federal and local law enforcement officers, reasonably interpreted to mean ‘kill President Trump.’”

‘Gravity of the Charges’ Delays James Comey Arraignment Until 2027 as Judge Weighs Motions To Dismiss

‘Gravity of the Charges’ Delays James Comey Arraignment Until 2027 as Judge Weighs Motions To Dismiss

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