詹姆斯·科米的律师周五试图说服一名联邦法官，特朗普政府第三次试图起诉这位前联邦调查局局长涉嫌泄露国防信息，应当被叫停，因为司法部（DOJ）提起指控等待时间过长。美国地区法官特雷弗·麦克法登是特朗普总统任命的，正在权衡是否应驳回针对科米的刑事案件。他未当庭宣判。科米的律师之一埃弗拉姆·麦克道威尔在华盛顿联邦法院的听证会上告诉法官，该案“已过追诉时效，必须驳回”。
Lawyers for James Comey tried to persuade a federal judge Friday that the Trump administration's third attempt to prosecute the former FBI director for allegedly disclosing national defense information should be stopped because the Department of Justice (DOJ) waited too long to bring the charges. U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, an appointee of President Trump, is weighing whether the criminal case against Comey should be thrown out. He did not rule from the bench. One of Comey's attorneys, Ephraim McDowell, told the judge during a hearing at the federal courthouse in D.C. that the case was "time barred and must be dismissed."
“政府已经有了10年时间，”麦克道威尔说，并辩称司法部直到“最后一分钟”才追究指控。科米因十年前涉嫌向媒体泄露敏感国防信息，面临两项间谍罪相关指控。科米否认有任何不当行为。“我的情况没有任何变化，”他在周一下午发布到其Substack账号的一个视频中说。“我依然无辜，但我依然不怕这些人，我依然相信独立的司法体系。”
"The government has had 10 years," McDowell said, arguing that the DOJ waited until the "last minute" to pursue the charges. Comey is facing two espionage-related charges in connection with the alleged leak of sensitive national defense information to the media a decade ago. Comey has denied any wrongdoing. "Nothing’s changed with me,” he said in a Monday afternoon video posted to his Substack account. “I’m still innocent, but I’m still not afraid of these people, and I still believe in the independent judiciary.”
他未出席庭审；不过，这是该案程序首次公开进行，因为自周一以来案件一直处于保密状态。司法部指控，科米于2016年10月5日指示其办公室内的一名人员向《纽约时报》记者分享机密信息，以更正早前一篇单独的路透社文章中的信息。科米寻求驳回案件，辩称因检方未在10年诉讼时效届满前获得起诉书，该案无效。
He was not present in the courtroom; however, it was the first time proceedings in the case were held in the open as it had been under seal since Monday. The DOJ alleges that Comey directed an individual within this office on Oct. 5, 2016, to share classified information with a New York Times reporter to correct information that had earlier appeared in a separate Reuters article. Comey is seeking to dismiss the case, arguing it is invalid because prosecutors did not secure an indictment before the 10-year statute of limitations ran out.
麦克道威尔断言，联邦法律对此要求“毫不含糊”。“我认为您应当依据国会制定的文字来约束政府，”他说。他的律师还指出，该泄露事件已由两名不同的美国……此前，两名美国检察官办公室的检察官均拒绝提起指控。新指控是通过刑事告知书提出的，这种方式仅由检察官提交，无需大陪审团参与。司法部律师达斯汀·法拉纳克承认，政府采用这种方式是为了“中止诉讼时效”，以便继续向大陪审团提交证据。
McDowell asserted that federal law was "unambiguous" about that requirement. "I think you should hold the government to the words Congress wrote," he said. His lawyers also noted that the disclosure had been investigated by two separate U.S. attorneys' offices previously, both of whom declined to bring charges. The new charges were brought by criminal information, which is filed only by a prosecutor and does not require the input of a grand jury. DOJ attorney Dustin Farahnak acknowledged that the government used that method to "toll the statute of limitations" while it continues to present evidence to a grand jury.
他敦促麦克法登法官在该程序结束前，不要对科米的驳回动议作出裁决。“我们面临时效问题，”法拉纳克说。麦克法登也质疑科米的驳回动议是否为时过早，询问麦克道威尔，等待大陪审团的结果会有什么“损害”。“我们是不是有点操之过急？”法官问道。麦克道威尔辩称，起诉不应“悬在科米先生头顶”，并指出联邦调查局特工曾驻守在他家外。
He urged McFadden not to rule on Comey's request until that process was played out. "We had a clock problem," Farahnak said. McFadden also questioned if Comey's dismissal motion was premature, asking McDowell what the "harm" would be waiting to see what the grand jury does. "Aren't we getting a little ahead of ourselves?" the judge asked. McDowell argued the prosecution shouldn't be "hanging over Mr. Comey's head," noting that FBI agents had been stationed outside his home.
当法官警告说，如果出现“某种黎明突袭”，他会“极其恼火”时，法拉纳克保证那“不会发生”。据报道，随着大陪审团表现出更多不情愿，司法部在特朗普第二任期试图追究政治敏感案件时遭遇挫折。周一，联邦大陪审团拒绝就前白宫助理卡西迪·哈钦森与2021年1月6日国会山袭击事件相关的国会证词提出起诉。“如今连火腿三明治都更难起诉了，”麦克法登在听证会上开玩笑说，引用了一句老话。
When the judge warned that he would be "extremely frustrated if there's some kind of dawn raid," Farahnak assured that was "not going to happen." The DOJ has faced setbacks as it tries to pursue politically sensitive cases in Trump's second term, with grand juries showing more reluctance. A federal grand jury on Monday declined to indict former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson in connection with congressional testimony she gave related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, according to reports. "Ham sandwiches are harder to indict these days," McFadden joked during the hearing, referencing an old adage.
这是特朗普第二任期开始以来，司法部第三次对科米追究刑事指控，批评者认为这是总统向其认定的政治敌人施压、展开调查的压力行动的一部分。去年试图以涉嫌在2020年国会证词中撒谎为由起诉科米的尝试告吹，此前一名联邦法官认定，获得起诉书的检察官林赛·哈利根作为临时美国检察官的任命是非法的。
It is the third time since the start of Trump's second term that the Justice Department has pursued criminal charges against Comey, a move critics see as part of a pressure campaign from the president to investigate his perceived political enemies. An attempt to prosecute him last year for allegedly lying in 2020 congressional testimony fell apart after a federal judge found that the prosecutor who secured the indictment, Lindsey Halligan, had been unlawfully appointed as the interim U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia.
弗吉尼亚东区检察官。科米还在推动驳回北卡罗来纳州针对他的一起案件，辩称司法部因一条已删除的社交媒体帖子对其提起指控属于报复性起诉。该帖子显示贝壳拼出“86 47”字样。特朗普及其盟友普遍将该帖子解读为针对第47任总统的蓄意威胁，但科米坚称他不知道这些数字可能与暴力有关联。
Comey is also pushing to have a case against him in North Carolina tossed, arguing the charges brought by the DOJ over a since-deleted social media post of seashells arranged to read “86 47" are vindictive. Trump and his allies widely interpreted the post to be a deliberate threat against the 47th president, but Comey has maintained that he did not know the numbers could be associated with violence.