James Comey Builds All-Star Legal Team To Thwart Renewed Effort by Trump DOJ To Convict Him

The former FBI director James Comey is building a formidable defense team ahead of his arraignment on September 30 for allegedly threatening President Trump in an Instagram post.Mr. Comey this week added six new lawyers to his cadre, all of whom filed “notices of special appearance” with the presiding judge, Louise Flanagan, of the Eastern District of North Carolina. Those notices are usually precursors to early motions to dismiss the charges before a trial begins. Mr. Comey has already indicated that he plans to argue that the case is “vindictive and selective.” The most boldface name to join Mr. Comey’s defense is Michael Dreeben, who now teaches at Georgetown Law School, Harvard Law School, and the Hebrew University. His website there notes that “as Deputy Solicitor General from 1994 to 2019, Dreeben supervised the criminal docket for the United States in the U.S. Supreme Court” Mr. Dreeben has argued 109 cases before the Supreme Court, one of the highest numbers in American history.Mr. Dreeben also served as a counselor to Special Counsel Robert Mueller and argued Special Counsel Jack Smith’s side of the case in Trump v. United States, the landmark immunity case from 2024. Mr. Dreeeben’s opponent that day before the Nine was John Saucer, who was representing President Trump and who now serves as America’s solicitor general. By a six to three margin the high court ruled against Messrs. Smith and Dreeben, finding that official presidential acts are presumptively immune from prosecution.That decision reversed the trial judge, Tanya Chutkan, as well the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. That setback, though, did not prevent Mr. Dreeben from first joining Mr. Comey’s defense team in 2025, when his client was charged by Mr. Trump’s Department of Justice with lying to Congress in 2020. That case was dismissed after its prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan, was found to have been unlawfully appointed.The lead defense attorney on Mr. Comey’s team is an old colleague of his when both were federal prosecutors at the Southern District of New York — Patrick Fitzgerald. He served for a decade as the United States attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, where he secured convictions of two Prairie State governors, Rod Blagojevich and George Ryan. As special counsel, he convicted Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, Scooter Libby, for perjury and obstruction of justice. Mr. Fitzgerald also led the case against the press baron — and New York Sun columnist — Conrad Black. He was convicted on four counts of fraud in 2007, though two of those were subsequently overturned. In 2010 he was resentenced to 42 months in prison and a fine of $125,000. In 2019 Mr. Trump pardoned him.Mr. Comey appears to be paying his own legal fees, though his team — which includes multiple partners at the Cooley firm — could be charging less than market rates. When Mr. Trump first floated his plan for a $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” Mr. Comey told CNN — with tongue likely in cheek — that he would like to “get in line” to secure funds. The scheme, though, prompted outrage even from Republicans and resistance from courts, prompting the government to abandon its implementation. The trial in this case had been scheduled to begin on July 15 before Mr. Comey’s attorneys secured a delay. In their request for more time they wrote that their client “expects to file multiple motions on constitutional grounds seeking dismissal of the indictment.” Those motions are expected to include arguing for dismissal on account of vindictiveness and the First Amendment, which protects speech unless it is reckoned to be a “true threat.”The acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, declares in a statement that “Threatening the life of the President of the United States is a grave violation of our nation’s laws. The grand jury returned an indictment alleging James Comey did just that, at a time when this country has witnessed violent incitement followed by deadly actions against President Trump and other elected officials. The temperature needs to be turned down, and anyone who dials it up and threatens the life of the President will be held accountable.”

James Comey Builds All-Star Legal Team To Thwart Renewed Effort by Trump DOJ To Convict Him

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