FILE PHOTO: James Comey, former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), is seen in a frame grab from a video feed as he is sworn in remotely from his home during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing exploring the FBI's investigation of the 2016 Trump campaign and Russian election interference in Washington, U.S., September 30, 2020. U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary/Handout via REUTERS//File Photo
Patrice Failor, wife of former FBI Director James Comey, their daughter Maurene Comey, and Troy Edwards Jr., his son-in-law, arrive for Comey's arraignment on charges of making false statements and obstruction relating to his Senate Judiciary Committee testimony on September 30, 2020, outside U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, U.S., October 8, 2025. REUTERS/Kent Nishimura
Demonstrators hold placards on the day former FBI Director James Comey is expected to attend his arraignment on charges of making false statements and obstruction relating to his Senate Judiciary Committee testimony on September 30, 2020, outside the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, U.S., October 8, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard
A man holds a placard on the day former FBI Director James Comey is expected to attend his arraignment on charges of making false statements and obstruction relating to his Senate Judiciary Committee testimony on September 30, 2020, outside U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, U.S., October 8, 2025. REUTERS/Kent Nishimura

By Sarah N. Lynch and Andrew Goudsward

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (Reuters) -Former FBI Director James Comey pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to criminal charges accusing him of making false statements and obstructing a congressional investigation, in the first prosecution by the Justice Department against one of President Donald Trump's political enemies.

The charges were brought by Trump's former personal attorney, Lindsey Halligan, who was installed last month as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia after Trump forced out her predecessor over his reticence to prosecute Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

A judge scheduled the trial to begin on January 5.

Comey's lawyer, Patrick Fitzgerald, entered the plea on Comey's behalf during a roughly 25-minute court hearing.

“Our view is that this prosecution was brought at the direction of President Trump," Fitzgerald said.

Comey, who appeared at an Alexandria, Virginia, court, is accused of knowingly making a false statement when he told a Republican senator during a hearing in 2020 that he stood behind prior testimony that he did not authorize anyone to serve as an anonymous source in news reports about FBI investigations.

The indictment accuses Comey of authorizing an FBI employee to disclose information about a federal probe. The indictment does not identify the investigation, but it appears to relate to Democrat Hillary Clinton, Trump's rival in the 2016 election. It does not detail the evidence against Comey.

TRUMP PURSUING POLITICAL RIVALS

Trump has threatened to imprison his political rivals since the start of his 2016 presidential campaign, but the case against Comey marks the first time his administration has succeeded in securing a grand jury indictment against one of them. Trump's Justice Department is also investigating other antagonists, including James, Democratic California Senator Adam Schiff, and John Bolton, who served as a national security official in Trump's first term as president.

Hours before the hearing, Trump called for jailing Chicago's mayor and Illinois' governor, both Democrats, as his administration prepared to deploy National Guard troops during stepped-up immigration enforcement in the city.

Just one in four Americans in a Reuters/Ipsos poll completed on Tuesday agreed with the statement that the Justice Department does its job fairly and without political interference.

Halligan, who has no prosecutorial experience and previously worked as an insurance attorney, presented the evidence in the case to the grand jury.

Career attorneys in the office previously drafted a memo urging her not to proceed with seeking an indictment, citing a lack of evidence to establish probable cause that he committed a crime, Reuters reported. In a highly unusual move, the government dispatched two federal prosecutors from a different office in Raleigh, North Carolina, to handle the case.

TRUMP CALLED FOR ACTION AGAINST COMEY

The charges against Comey came shortly after Trump complained publicly about a lack of action on the case. The Justice Department's willingness to respond to Trump's demands represents a breach of decades-long norms that have sought to insulate U.S. law enforcement from political pressures.

More than 1,000 Justice Department alumni from Republican and Democratic administrations recently signed a letter decrying the case against Comey as "an unprecedented assault on the rule of law."

During his first term as president, Trump fired Comey, who at the time was presiding over the FBI's investigation into contacts between Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and Russia. The firing sparked a political firestorm and led to the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, whose investigation dogged much of Trump's first presidency.

Mueller's probe ultimately concluded there was not enough evidence to establish a criminal conspiracy.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Andrew Goudsward; editing by Scott Malone, Rod Nickel and Nick Zieminski)