Ahead of Wednesday’s arraignment of former FBI Director James Comey in Virginia, the Justice Department has added two assistant U.S. attorneys from out of state to work on the case.
Two prosecutors who normally practice in the Eastern District of North Carolina appeared in the Comey case Tuesday afternoon.
Comey was indicted last month by a grand jury that heard evidence from Lindsey Halligan, the newly installed U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, after President Donald Trump fired former U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert, who sources said had internally expressed doubts about the presentation of the case.
The former FBI chief has denied the charges.
Halligan, Trump’s replacement chosen to lead the office despite having no experience as a prosecutor, presented evidence to the grand jury on her own and has struggled to find support within the office to prosecute the case, sources told ABC News.
Former FBI Director James Comey is sworn in before testifying during a U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 8, 2017.
Saúl Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
Comey was charged with making a false statement and obstruction related to his testimony about the FBI’s Russia investigation before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2020. The charges came just days after Trump issued a public demand that his Justice Department act “now” to bring proceedings against Comey and other political enemies.
As ABC News previously reported, sources say the Comey case has created turmoil in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia following Siebert’s firing, the controversial decision to charge Comey against the recommendation of career prosecutors, and the subsequent firing of two top prosecutors in the office.
