Carrie Johnson

And arguing for the law firms will be former U.S.

Solicitor General Paul Clement.

He's a conservative who's been taking on tough assignments against the administration in Donald Trump's second term.

Thanks for having me.

Comey says he's innocent and he has confidence in the judicial system.

He's facing two felony charges related to an image he posted to Instagram last year while walking along the beach.

The photo showed shells in the shape of the number 8647.

86 is slang for get rid of and 47 is, by some accounts, a reference to Donald Trump as the 47th president.

Comey quickly deleted the post and apologized, saying he didn't know it could be connected to violence.

But the Justice Department sought to indict him anyway.

The president's been calling on his DOJ to prosecute Comey and other prominent critics.

A judge dismissed a separate case against the former FBI director last year.

Carrie Johnson, NPR News, Washington.

It's NPR.

She presided over a massive exodus at the Justice Department.

Hundreds of prosecutors and FBI agents now gone, reshaping the institution.

Judges, of course, have criticized the department for blowing off orders.

Grand juries pretty frequently decline to bring indictments, which almost never happened before last year.

And some of the top leaders in the FBI who were fired last year have sued.

They say they were ousted for political reasons because they were not sufficiently loyal to Donald Trump.