Former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey claimed he provided “literally true answers” to the “ambiguous questions” presented to him during his congressional testimony.
“As explained in the accompanying Memorandum, Count One seeks to punish Mr. Comey for responding to Senator Ted Cruz’s fundamentally ambiguous questions with literally true answers,” Comey’s motion says. “As a matter of law, neither those questions nor those answers can serve as the basis for a violation.”
“Senator Cruz’s questions are fundamentally ambiguous because people of ordinary intellect would not be expected to understand that he meant to ask a broad question about Mr. Comey’s interactions with anyone at the FBI—including Daniel Richman—during a colloquy focused on [former deputy director of the FBI Andrew McCabe],” the motion argues. “On the contrary, a reasonable person readily would have understood Senator Cruz to be asking only whether Mr. Comey had specifically authorized Mr. McCabe to be an anonymous source in news reports.”
The argument referred to Senator Cruz asking discussing McCabe’s claim that he “leaked information to The Wall Street Journal and that [Comey was] directly aware of it and that you directly authorized it. Now, what Mr. McCabe is saying and what you testified to this committee cannot both be true; one or the other is false. Who’s telling the truth?”
“So, your testimony is you’ve never authorized anyone to leak,” Cruz also asked. “And Mr. McCabe when if he says contrary is not telling the truth, is that correct?”
“Again, I’m not going to characterize Andy’s testimony, but mine is the same today,” Comey replied.
Prosecutors have argued that Comey’s testimony was false because he permitted Columbia University law professor Daniel Richman to serve as an anonymous source in reports. According to memos released by the FBI in August, Comey hired Richman as a “Special Government Employee” with Top Secret clearance to act as a “liaison to the media.”
The motion further argues that the indictment “contains no allegations that Mr. Comey’s answers were false: it never alleges that Mr. Comey made a false statement regarding Mr. McCabe.”
Comey is accused of making false statements and obstructing a congressional proceeding tied to his 2020 Senate testimony. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
