Nick Harper: US correspondent on James Comey pleading not guilty to federal charges

Former FBI director James Comey is standing by his innocence after being targeted by US President Donald Trump. 

Comey was indicted last month and made his first court appearance in Virginia today.
 
He's pleaded not guilty to charges of making false statements and obstructing a congressional investigation.

US correspondent Nick Harper told Ryan Bridge Trump has described Comey and other political enemies as 'guilty as hell'. 

But he says Comey's lawyers are calling it a selective and malicious prosecution. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
You know that big Palisades fire in Los Angeles earlier
this year, massive one twelve people died. Cops have just
arrested a guy from Florida.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Jonathan rendernessh aged twenty nine, residing in Melbourne, Florida, was
taken into federal custody by ATF special agents, a Los
Angeles City Fire Department investigator, and a Los Angeles Police detective.
Render Neck, as the US attorney mentioned, as charged under
Title eighteen eight forty four F malicious destruction by means

(00:28):
of a fire real property owned by an organization receiving
federal financial assistance. I can tell you this from day one,
ATF and our partners have been relentless. We made a
promise to find answers, and we have kept that promise.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
Nick Happa is a US correspondent. Nick, What do we
know about him?

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Hey, good morning, Ryan.

Speaker 3 (00:48):
Not a great deal at this stage, whenever that he's
a twenty nine year old man, Jonathan Rindagnick. As we
heard there, he was allegedly working as an uber driver
at the time, and after dropping off someone, he started
a fire on a nearby trail and it was that
fire that then spread dramatically right around the area, leading
to the destruction of almost seven thousand buildings and twelve

(01:11):
people unfortunately also died in these fires. I mean, it
was unbelievable some of those pictures, those images that we
saw coming out of Los Angeles in January this year.
Prosecutors say that he maliciously started this blaze. They don't
know the motive yet, but they are very much saying
that he was behind it, that he orchestrated it, and

(01:31):
that he did plan this to happen. But of course
the extent of this fire was not known at the time.
I guess when he started this, he could not have
predicted it. At the moment, he's being charged with destruction
of property, but of course additional charges may be added,
and we could see things including the amount of buildings
destroyed seven thousand added to those charges, potentially even something

(01:53):
related to the deaths of those twelve people as well.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
All Right, Nick on Comy, he's obviously burning called this
as far as an arraignment, and he's playing not guilty.
And I see that his lawyers are going after the
US attorney that Trump appointed.

Speaker 3 (02:06):
Yeah, that's right. I mean they feel that this is
just a hit job against James Comy, the former FBI director.
They feel it's payback retribution from the US president who
has been targeting and where possible, trying to prosecute his enemies.
Donald Trump has described Comy and others as guilty as hell.
His lawyers, though, say that this is something that has

(02:28):
just been targeted against the FBI director, the former FBI director,
and that is it is a malicious and selective prosecution.
His lawyers trying to get this case thrown out, also
not happy with the judge Trump appointed judge there presiding
over the case. There is a possibility of five years
in jail for James Comy if he's found guilty. Trial

(02:49):
takes place at the beginning of next year, January the fifth.
The president, of course, arguing that he has to get
behind bars for being part of this Trump Russia probe.
Looking at Donald Trump's went back in twenty sixteen, they
say that he lied to Congress about exactly what he
was involved in that investigation.

Speaker 1 (03:06):
Cheers Nick Nick Harper, a US correspondent.

Speaker 2 (03:09):
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