Former FBI Director James Comey's lawyers are set to argue in court on Nov. 19 that he was vindictively targeted with criminal charges at the behest of President Donald Trump, and that the federal case against him should therefore be thrown out.

Comey was indicted by a federal grand jury on Sept. 25 on charges that he lied to Congress and obstructed a congressional proceeding when he testified before a Senate committee in 2020. Comey allegedly told senators he didn't authorize an anonymous leak of information to the media, knowing that statement was false.

The Nov. 19 hearing will give Comey's lawyers a chance to air out their argument from an earlier court filing, and also an opportunity for Justice Department lawyers to respond. The government previously argued in a court document that the case should survive because Comey has failed to show the case was brought "solely to punish" him.

Judge Michael Nachmanoff, a Biden appointee, could also offer early indicators of how he is likely to rule on the matter.

The charges against Comey followed a series of events that have fueled outcries that Trump is improperly politicizing the Justice Department.

First, the former head of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, Erik Siebert, left his role in September after reportedly expressing skepticism about bringing charges against Comey. Siebert told colleagues in an email that he had resigned, although Trump later said he fired him.

Soon after, in a Sept. 20 social media post, Trump declared that Comey was "guilty as hell" and delay was not an option. In fact, prosecutors had less than two weeks remaining before a legal deadline to seek charges against Comey was set to expire.

In that same post, addressed to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Trump praised Lindsey Halligan, his former personal lawyer. Bondi quickly appointed Halligan to fill Siebert's high-ranking position, even though Halligan had never served as a prosecutor before. She secured an indictment against Comey within a handful of days – and just days before the legal deadline.

Comey, through his lawyers, has highlighted many of those events in arguing that the case is vindictive.

Comey also says the case should be tossed out because it is a "selective" prosecution that is targeting him for exercising his free speech rights. His legal team is expected to argue in court on Nov. 19 that other former Trump administration officials have faced more credible allegations of misleading Congress than he faces, yet only he was charged.

Government lawyers have said the comparisons Comey has raised aren't similar to the facts in his case because he allegedly was testifying to Congress about his official conduct as the head of an executive agency.

Comey's "vindictive" and "selective" prosecution arguments aren't the only reason the case could be tossed out. Comey has also challenged the lawfulness of Halligan's appointment, and a separate judge appointed to handle some issues in the case said in a Nov. 17 opinion that a host of potential irregularities in the grand jury process that led to the indictment could be grounds to dismiss the case.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Vindictive' prosecution? What to know about the James Comey case before Nov. 19 hearing

Reporting by Aysha Bagchi, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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