Former FBI Director James Comey asked a court to dismiss charges against him for allegedly lying to Congress, noting that the statements highlighted in the government's indictment were "literally true."
In the indictment last month, the Department of Justice claimed Comey falsely told Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) that he never gave anyone permission to leak details about an FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton.
A motion filed by Comey's attorneys on Thursday said that the Trump administration sought to punish their client "for seconds of testimony he gave in response to compound and ambiguous questioning."
"Specifically, after speaking for more than a minute, Senator Ted Cruz asked Mr. Comey to recall statements he had made three years earlier and to simultaneously address statements that Senator Cruz incorrectly claimed were made by Andrew McCabe, the former Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)," the filing noted.
According to the motion, Cruz's questions could not form the basis for an indictment under Section 1001(a)(2) of U.S. law because they were "fundamentally ambiguous."
"And, regardless, Mr. Comey’s answers to them were literally true," the motion added. "For the foregoing reasons, the indictment should be dismissed with prejudice."
In a previous motion, Comey said the “vindictive” case should be dismissed because of President Donald Trump's vendetta against him.
“President Trump posted a statement on social media that provides smoking-gun evidence that this prosecution would not have occurred but for the President’s animus toward Mr. Comey,” the filing explained.
