The Slow Death Facing The Comey Prosecution -- Joyce Vance

[erronis]

joycevance.substack.com/p/the-slow-death-facing-the-comey-prosecution

This morning at 10 a.m., former FBI Director Jim Comey was arraigned in federal court. As expected, he pled not guilty. District Judge Michael Nachmanoff set a trial for January 5. Comey’s defense lawyer, former Chicago U.S. Attorney Pat Fitzgerald, told the court it was the honor of his life to represent Comey. Fitzgerald, who is not prone to unnecessary commentary, clearly understands the importance of the moment and the case.

Interestingly, the government doesn’t want a speedy trial. We’re “just getting our hands around” discovery, prosecutors tried to explain to the judge, telling him that the case is complicated. It isn’t. A false statements case is about as basic as they come. Prosecutors must prove the statement was made by the defendant, that it was false and the defendant knew it was false, and that it was material or important to the outcome of the government proceeding in which it was made. “This does not appear to me to be an overly complicated case,” Judge Nachmanoff told the prosecution team.

The prosecutors who are taking over the case from Trump’s never-before-prosecuted-a-case U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan in the Eastern District of Virginia were dropped in from the Eastern District of North Carolina, and it’s not clear they understood they had landed in the Eastern District of Virginia’s notorious “rocket docket.” As we’ve discussed, the Eastern District of Virginia fast-tracks its cases, but the new prosecution team wanted to put off turning over discovery, one of the first steps that gets a criminal prosecution underway, until mid-January. The Judge set the trial date before that. Welcome to Alexandria, Virginia.

Fitzgerald pointed out that prosecutors still hadn’t told him what false statement(s) his client was accused of making. When the prosecutors said they were trying to decide how to handle classified information, Fitzgerald commented that prosecutors usually have that sorted out before they indict. In any event, while Trump stripped Comey of his security clearance and Fitzgerald’s has lapsed, another lawyer on the defense team possesses one and can get to work. The Judge indicated that classified material shouldn’t delay the proceedings.

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It seems obvious that the whole point of trump's little game is to file the charges and cause delays, not caring about the verdict, but playing to the courtier press and base.