Former FBI Director James Comey is set to be arraigned on Wednesday morning in Alexandria, Va., just outside Washington.

The moment will bring enormous media attention — and fire the starting pistol on a legal battle that has huge stakes for President Trump as well as his longtime foe.

Critics of the president see the pursuit of Comey as little more than a show trial aimed at humiliating an enemy and dissuading other would-be dissenters from standing up to Trump.

The president, for his part, is openly gleeful at the possible downfall of a figure whom he obviously loathes.

That’s in part because of Trump’s belief that Comey was instrumental in stoking speculation about nefarious links between his 2016 campaign and Russia that placed a cloud over his first term. It’s also because the former FBI director has become an open and strident Trump critic.

When Comey was indicted last month, Trump celebrated what he called “Justice in America!” in a post on social media. The president contended that Comey was “one of the worst human beings this Country has ever been exposed to” and that he was “now at the beginning of being held responsible for his crimes.”

Comey, meanwhile, proclaimed his innocence in an Instagram video in which he said, “My family and I have known for years that there are costs to standing up to Donald Trump. … We will not live on our knees — and you shouldn’t either.”

© The Hill