James Comey says he gave ‘literally true’ answers to ‘ambiguous’ questions at heart of indictment

Former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey is pushing to have his indictment dismissed because he answered “fundamentally ambiguous questions with literally true answers.”

Comey faces charges for lying to Congress during his September 2020 testimony, during which he allegedly claimed he did not “authorize anyone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source in reporting” regarding an investigation into Hillary Clinton, and for obstructing a Congressional investigation.

“Here, the indictment conspicuously omits the lengthy and confusing questions that motivated Mr. Comey’s testimony,” states Comey’s motion filed Thursday. (RELATED: James Comey Hit with Bar Complaint for Alleged Obstruction of Congress)

Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz asked Comey during the aforementioned 2020 hearing whether his earlier testimony in 2017, in which he claimed to Sen. Chuck Grassley that he never authorized anyone to be an anonymous source in reporting, was true in light of his deputy Andrew McCabe’s assertion that he leaked information to the Wall Street Journal with Comey’s knowledge.

“Now, what Mr. McCabe said and what you testified before this committee cannot both be true; one or the other is false,” Cruz asked Comey, according to the motion. “Who is telling the truth?”

Comey stood by his earlier testimony.

“So your testimony is that you never authorized anyone to disclose,” Cruz continued. “And Mr. McCabe, if he says otherwise, is not telling the truth, is that correct?”

Comey responded that he would not “characterize Andy’s testimony, but mine is the same today.”

“Senator Cruz’s questions are inherently ambiguous because one would not expect people of common intellect to understand that he intended to ask a general question about Mr. Comey’s interactions with anyone at the FBI – including Daniel Richman – during a symposium focused on Mr. McCabe,” Comey’s lawyers argued in the motion. “To the contrary, a reasonable person would have easily understood that Senator Cruz was only asking whether Mr. Comey had specifically authorized Mr. McCabe to be an anonymous source in the reporting.”

Columbia University law professor Daniel Richman, who the indictment alleges leaked information about Comey, was hired by Comey as a “special government employee” and given “Top Secret clearance,” according to internal memos released by the FBI in August. Comey also used Richman “as a media liaison,” according to the notes.

“Under this reasonable understanding, the indictment contains no allegation that Mr. Comey’s responses were false: it never alleges that Mr. Comey made a false statement regarding Mr. McCabe,” Comey’s motion states. “To the contrary, the indictment omits Senator Cruz’s statements about Mr. McCabe, obscuring the context necessary to understand both the questions themselves and Mr. Comey’s responses.”

In a separate filing Thursday, Comey asked the government to file a “statement of particulars” clarifying the indictment. It states that the government “has not provided any details on when or how Mr. Comey allegedly authorized Mr. Richman to serve as an ‘anonymous source,’ nor on what reporting Mr. Richman was allegedly authorized to serve as an ‘anonymous source’.”

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent, nonpartisan news service, is available free to any legitimate news publisher capable of delivering a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and DCNF affiliation. For questions about our guidelines or our partnership, please contact licenses@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.