MSNBC legal analyst Danny Cevallos on Friday expressed skepticism that former FBI Director James Comey will succeed in having his case dismissed before trial.
Comey was indicted Thursday on charges of making false statements to Congress and obstructing a congressional investigation, stemming from his September 2020 testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Appearing on Ana Cabrera Reports, Cevallos said efforts to dismiss the case on grounds of “selective prosecution” or “pretrial publicity” tied to President Donald Trump’s involvement were unlikely to prevail. Judges, he noted, generally prefer to allow prosecutors to present their cases rather than intervening early.
“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,” Cevallos said.
“The reality is, virtually all federal prosecution is selective by nature. The federal government is one of limited jurisdiction. They can’t possibly prosecute everything that’s a federal crime.”
“So in essence, part of being a federal prosecutor is being selective. And that’s why these motions almost always lose,” he added.
“So as much as Comey would want to knock it out in the beginning, realistically the case may proceed beyond the motions … realistically, it is tough to get a case tossed on a motion before it goes to trial. Judges do not like to deny prosecutors their opportunity to try the case,” Cevallos went on.
The Justice Department indictment alleges that Comey’s 2020 testimony, in which he denied authorizing an FBI official to serve as an anonymous source, was inaccurate.
A CIA memorandum released in July indicated that former FBI Director James Comey and former CIA Director John Brennan may have provided inaccurate testimony when they told Congress under oath that the Steele Dossier was not a factor in the Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) issued in 2017.
The Justice Department has issued an update following the indictment of Comey last week.
The fired FBI director is scheduled to be arraigned in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, on October 9, according to court records. A summons has been issued directing Comey to appear at 10 a.m. that day.
Two sources previously told CNN that officials initially expected Comey to surrender on Friday. However, the court record shows no arrest warrant has been issued that would require an immediate surrender.
President Trump took to Truth Social on Friday to celebrate the indictment and declared Comey a “dirty cop.”
“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.”
In a statement posted to Instagram on Thursday, the former FBI director asserted his innocence in response to the charges.
“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,” Comey, who denies the allegations, said in an Instagram video. “We will not live on our knees, and you shouldn’t either. Somebody that I love dearly recently said that fear is the tool of a tyrant, and she’s right.”
“But I’m not afraid,” he added.
“My heart is broken for the Department of Justice, but I have great confidence in the federal judicial system,” Comey continued. “I’m innocent. So let’s have a trial and keep the faith.”
A federal grand jury indicted Comey following an investigation into whether he lied to Congress during his Sept. 30, 2020, testimony about the FBI’s handling of its Trump–Russia probe, known internally as “Crossfire Hurricane.”