Who is Michael Nachmanoff, the judge overseeing James Comey’s case?

By Devan Cole, Jamie Gangel, CNN

(CNN) — The federal judge assigned to James Comey’s criminal case will be overseeing the most high-profile and politically fraught trial in President Donald Trump’s second term.

But US District Judge Michael Nachmanoff’s fourth-degree black belt in Shotokan Fudokan karate will undoubtedly come in handy as the nation and the White House scrutinize his every move in the Comey case. Shotokan karate emphasizes the need to remain calm under pressure.

In interviews with CNN, people who know and have worked with Nachmanoff, including lawyers who have appeared before him, describe the judge as an unflappable jurist who is particularly well-equipped to handle the Comey case – and the attention it will bring to his courtroom.

Nachmanoff, an appointee of former President Joe Biden whose courthouse is in Alexandria, Virginia, has set Comey’s arraignment for Wednesday morning. The former FBI director was indicted last month on federal charges of giving false statements and obstruction of a congressional proceeding for allegedly lying to Congress during testimony in 2020.

Comey is expected to plead not guilty.

The case was brought less than a week after Trump publicly urged Attorney General Pam Bondi to prosecute his political rivals — specifically naming Comey. That also came after Trump forced out the US Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, Erik Siebert, who had resisted demands that he bring charges against Trump’s perceived enemies.

In addition to the pressure of presiding over high-profile case, a source familiar with Nachmanoff says he is aware of security concerns and how Trump has attacked judges, their families and courtroom staff in the past.

After Nachmanoff, 57, was randomly assigned Comey’s case, Trump attacked him that day. The president blasted him on Truth Social, calling him a “Crooked Joe Biden appointed Judge” and saying the former FBI director was “off to a very good start.”

In response, retired federal appeals court Judge J. Michael Luttig came to Nachmanoff’s defense, saying in a statement to CNN that the judge is “beyond all reproach” and that “he will be impervious” to Trump’s attacks.

Throughout his career, Nachmanoff has earned a reputation as a thoughtful and fair arbiter who is widely respected in Virginia’s legal community, according to sources who spoke to CNN. Before being appointed as a district court judge, he served as a magistrate judge in the same courthouse.

Legal sources who have both won and lost cases before Nachmanoff described him as a judge whose personal views are well-guarded and who is unlikely to further inflame the atmosphere around Comey’s prosecution, which has already elicited intense reaction.

“I would call him an apolitical judge,” said Kevin Carroll, a Virginia lawyer who failed earlier this year to get Nachmanoff to issue an emergency court requiring the temporary reinstatement of his client, a doctor at the CIA who claims she was pushed out of her job following pressure from conservatives.

“The judge hasn’t brought politics into it at all,” Carroll added. “It’s just been straight legal discussion.”

Robert Jenkins, a longtime white-collar defense attorney who has represented clients before Nachmanoff, said the judge “is committed to getting things right and making sure that justice is served.”

“When I learned about the case being assigned to him, I had a great sense that if this is just a politically motivated prosecution, he will discover the right way to deal with it, to make sure that justice is served,” Jenkins added. “If there is some true merit to the allegations contained in the indictment, I think he will do likewise, because he is fair and committed to doing the right thing.”

Nachmanoff declined CNN’s request for comment.

‘Fair, thoughtful and always prepared’

Nachmanoff was one of Biden’s earliest judicial picks. His nomination received bipartisan support in the Senate, with three Republican senators voting alongside Democrats in 2021 to confirm him to the lifetime position.

Since then, while he’s managed to keep a relatively low profile on the bench, he has presided over several cases that made headlines.

In addition to the CIA firing case, Nachmanoff oversaw a jury trial in 2024 that resulted in the conviction of a former health care worker who illegally accessed the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s medical records.

And as a magistrate judge, Nachmanoff came within a few degrees of the legal drama surrounding Trump’s first term in office.

In 2019, he handled initial court proceedings for Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, two associates of Trump ally Rudy Giuliani who were charged with campaign-finance related crimes. Nachmanoff ordered each man to be released on a $1 million secured bond.

Legal sources said the judge has a no-nonsense approach to proceedings and is respected for his rulings, regardless of how they fall.

“He is well-liked whether you win or lose because he’s fair, thoughtful and always prepared,” said one lawyer familiar with his reputation.

Nachmanoff also runs a tight courtroom.

“He has a high expectation of how the lawyers and parties should conduct themselves before the court,” Jenkins said, adding that the judge will have little patience for “inflammatory-type tactics.”

That approach matches the congeniality the Virginia bar is known for, something Nachmanoff himself has acknowledged is necessary for the administration of justice.

“Ultimately, judging is about fairness and respect – being fair and respectful to the litigants, the lawyers, the public and the court staff,” Nachmanoff said in an interview a decade ago.

Despite his demeanor and experience, Nachmanoff may have to rule on some difficult and uncommon motions.

Legal sources have raised the possibility that because of Trump’s public attacks on Comey, and the perception that the case is being brought as political revenge, Comey’s defense team may ask to depose the president himself, as well as Bondi and other Justice Department officials.

‘The ultimate EDVA insider’

Even before he began handling cases as a judge in Alexandria, Nachmanoff was no stranger to the federal courthouse there.

Prior to becoming a magistrate judge, he worked for more than a decade in the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the Eastern District of Virginia, including for a time as the head of that office. One source close to Judge Nachmanoff describes him as “a Renaissance man” and says he is a voracious reader who has coached youth softball and volleyball and in addition to his black belt in karate, occasionally plays the bass guitar with a local band.

Born in Washington, DC, and raised in Northern Virginia, Nachmanoff attended the University of Virginia School of Law. Following graduation, he clerked for US District Judge Leonie Brinkema, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton who remains one of just four full-time judges in the Alexandria courthouse.

“He’s definitely the ultimate EDVA insider,” said an attorney who has appeared before Nachmanoff.

That lengthy relationship, the attorney said, has produced a jurist who’s helped keep up the district’s reputation for having a “rocket docket” that puts a high premium on speed.

“He’s more alert to deadlines and not wanting to give you continuances than other courts (are),” the attorney said of Nachmanoff.

The approach could be especially important for Comey, who will have the opportunity to ask the judge to dismiss the charges ahead of trial by arguing that he’s being unfairly prosecuted.

Such a request – which is rarely granted – would be among the most consequential issues Nachmanoff may need to resolve in Comey’s case.

“It’s difficult for me to imagine someone who could be more prepared to handle those types of complex motions that are undoubtedly expected to come early in the case,” Jenkins said.

Should Comey go to trial, Nachmanoff will also be tasked with making decisions concerning evidence, jury selection and, if prosecutors secure a conviction, Comey’s sentence.

Decisions on sentencing are familiar territory for Nachmanoff, who as a public defender argued and won a critical case before the Supreme Court on sentencing guidelines. The case, Kimbrough v. US, raised questions about how much discretion federal judges have in sentencing defendants in crack cocaine cases.

The high court, in a 7-2 decision authored by the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2007, sided with Nachmanoff and his client, giving lower court judges the discretion to give “reasonably” shorter prison terms for crack-cocaine crimes, which had historically been higher than those doled out in cases involving the powdered variety.

In 2015, Nachmanoff reflected on that case.

“I was an advocate for sentencing discretion being placed with judges and moved away from prosecutors and advocates. Now that I’m a judge, I believe even more firmly the discretion rests with judges,” Nachmanoff said at the time.

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