The criminal case against former FBI Director James Comey, one of Donald Trump\u2019s most prominent adversaries, will be handled by the newest judge on the federal bench in Alexandria, Virginia.<\/p>\n
Court records show that U.S. District Judge Michael Nachmanoff, a Biden appointee confirmed in 2021, was\u00a0randomly assigned\u00a0Thursday to oversee the matter after a grand jury indicted Comey on charges of lying to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding.<\/p>\n
Comey\u2019s indictment represents the culmination of years of conflict with Trump, who has frequently accused the former FBI director of abusing his office during the 2016 election and early stages of the Russia investigation.<\/p>\n
Comey has said publicly since the indictment, \u201cI\u2019m not afraid\u201d and insisted he is innocent.<\/p>\n
He is scheduled to be arraigned on Oct. 9 in Alexandria.<\/p>\n
Nachmanoff, 57, has a long history in federal courts in northern Virginia. Before his appointment to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, he spent six years as a magistrate judge and more than a decade as a public defender.<\/p>\n
He was recommended for the federal bench by Virginia\u2019s two Democratic senators, Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, and confirmed by a narrow 52-46 Senate vote, with only three Republicans\u2014Lindsey Graham, Susan Collins, and Lisa Murkowski\u2014supporting his nomination.<\/p>\n
As a magistrate judge in 2019, Nachmanoff presided over the arraignment of Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, two associates of Rudy Giuliani who faced campaign finance charges connected to Giuliani\u2019s efforts to dig up damaging information about Joe Biden in Ukraine. He released both men on $1 million bond.<\/p>\n
His career before joining the judiciary reflected a commitment to defense work in some of the country\u2019s most high-profile cases.<\/p>\n
As a federal public defender, Nachmanoff\u2019s office represented al-Qaeda operative Zacarias Moussaoui and Somali pirates captured after attacking a Navy vessel in 2010. In one notable case argued before the Supreme Court, Nachmanoff successfully pressed for judicial discretion in sentencing drug defendants whose punishments were inflated by crack cocaine laws.<\/p>\n
The justices ruled 7-2 in favor of his position, with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg writing the majority opinion.<\/p>\n