Photo: Alamy
President Donald Trump on Friday dismissed the idea that former FBI Director James Comey could benefit from having a judge appointed by former President Joe Biden oversee his criminal trial, insisting the case against him is straightforward.
Comey was indicted on Thursday on charges of obstruction of justice and making false statements. U.S. District Judge Michael Nachmanoff, nominated to the bench by Biden in 2021, was randomly assigned to the case later that evening.
“Whether you like Corrupt James Comey or not, and I can’t imagine too many people liking him, HE LIED! 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,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “He is a Dirty Cop, and always has been, but he was just assigned a Crooked Joe Biden appointed Judge, so he’s off to a very good start.”
Trump continued: “Nevertheless, words are words, and he wasn’t hedging or in dispute. He was very positive, there was no doubt in his mind about what he said, or meant by saying it. He left himself ZERO margin of error on a big and important answer to a question. He just got unexpectedly caught. James ‘Dirty Cop’ Comey was a destroyer of lives. He knew exactly what he was saying, and that it was a very serious and far reaching lie for which a very big price must be paid! President DJT.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed Comey’s indictment Thursday night in separate social media posts.
The charges stem from Comey’s 2020 testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, when he denied authorizing the release of sensitive information to the press amid Republican criticism of the FBI’s handling of the Russia investigation.
Nachmanoff, who sits on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, was confirmed by the Senate in 2021 by a 52-46 vote, with support from Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine.
Before his appointment, Nachmanoff worked for more than a decade as a federal public defender. As a magistrate judge in 2019, he presided over the arraignment of Rudy Giuliani associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman on campaign finance charges, releasing both men on a $1 million bond.
