Following the strategic removal of a U.S. attorney who allegedly thought the case against one of Donald Trump’s political foes was too insubstantial to warrant criminal charges, the president appointed his former personal lawyer to guarantee that at least a case against ex-FBI Director James Comey would be brought to a grand jury before the statute of limitations expired.

With the Comey indictment now issued, the case has been randomly assigned to Joe Biden appointee U.S. District Judge Michael Nachmanoff, known for his expertise in identifying weaknesses in prosecutions during his time as a public defender.

Judge Michael Nachmanoff was appointed by President Biden to a federal judgeship for a lifetime tenure in 2021. He received confirmation from the U.S. Senate with a 52-46 vote. Before his appointment, he served as a U.S. magistrate judge in the Eastern District of Virginia and spent over a decade in the Federal Public Defender’s Office, earning recognition for his work in civil rights.

In 2015, as a relatively new magistrate judge, Nachmanoff participated in an American Bar Association panel discussing topics such as sentencing reform, racial issues, implicit bias, mandatory minimums, and justice.

“I am a magistrate judge and have cherished this transition. I loved being an advocate and was honored to be a federal defender, focusing on sentencing reform issues within the core of the criminal justice system,” he stated. “Occupying a different role in the courtroom is indeed a new and startling experience, but it remains a privilege to contribute to the system and engage in public service.”

Nachmanoff added that “one of the great things” about being a magistrate judge was that he did not have the “incredible challenges” in sentencing people to “20 and 30 years in prison and being faced with mandatory minimums,” noting with levity that he was instead accustomed to issuing weekend jail sentences in DUI cases stemming from incidents on federal land.

“I do think, however, that issues of implicit bias, issues of racial disparity in the criminal justice system is incredibly important, and is incredibly important to me,” Nachmanoff remarked, saying he hadn’t personally seen examples of “explicit bias” on the part of prosecutors. “But I think we see that these issues start at the very beginning of cases for a whole variety of reasons.”

While a U.S. district judge, Nachmanoff in 2024 handed out a two-year sentence, six months under what prosecutors sought, for a man who apparently blamed the leak of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s health care records on his own cat.

As recently as May, Nachmanoff handed Trump and his allies a win by clearing the path for the CIA to fire a doctor who, according to her lawsuit, recommended that military “servicemembers be vaccinated against coronavirus” during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Reports swirled that a Comey indictment was expected following a shakeup at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia that Trump took credit for, and now he’s been formally indicted by a grand jury for allegedly making a false statement and obstructing the Senate Judiciary Committee during testimony on Sept. 30, 2020, in which he denied, under questioning by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, that he had “‘authorized someone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source in news reports’ regarding an FBI investigation concerning Person 1.”

If convicted, Comey faces up to five years in prison.

Given Trump’s personal interest in the case — and if Nachmanoff stays on the case to which he has been initially assigned — it’s likely that the president will be watching the case closely and won’t hesitate to post about the judge and highlight who appointed him if the prosecution hits roadblocks, whether for selective and vindictive prosecution issues or otherwise.

Consider this Friday morning post from the president, in which he has already referred to Nachmanoff as a “Crooked Joe Biden appointed Judge”:

Whether you like Corrupt James Comey or not, and I can’t imagine too many people liking him, HE LIED! It is not a complex lie, it’s a very simple, but IMPORTANT one. There is no way he can explain his way out of it. He is a Dirty Cop, and always has been, but he was just assigned a Crooked Joe Biden appointed Judge, so he’s off to a very good start. Nevertheless, words are words, and he wasn’t hedging or in dispute. He was very positive, there was no doubt in his mind about what he said, or meant by saying it. He left himself ZERO margin of error on a big and important answer to a question. He just got unexpectedly caught. James “Dirty Cop” Comey was a destroyer of lives. He knew exactly what he was saying, and that it was a very serious and far reaching lie for which a very big price must be paid! President DJT

Perhaps there will eventually be efforts to force Nachmanoff’s recusal based on who appointed him.

In the meantime, Comey has proclaimed his innocence, and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, despite her reported concerns about the case, said the indictment was proof that “No one is above the law.”

Just five days earlier, Trump blasted ex-EDVA U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert for refusing to bring a mortgage fraud case against Democratic rival New York Attorney General Letitia James, installed his former Mar-a-Lago case lawyer Lindsey Halligan in Siebert’s place, and demanded that Bondi act “NOW!!!” because “they” impeached him and indicted him.

“Lindsey Halligan is a really good lawyer, and likes you, a lot,” he told Bondi. “We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility. They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!”

Comey is slated to be arraigned at 10 a.m. on Oct. 9, the court docket said.