James Comey, the former FBI director and one of Donald Trump’s most frequent targets, was indicted on Thursday on one count of making a false statement to Congress and one count of obstruction of justice, according to a person familiar with the matter, in the latest move in the president’s expansive retribution campaign against his political adversaries.
“No one is above the law. Today’s indictment reflects this Department of Justice’s commitment to holding those who abuse positions of power accountable for misleading the American people,” Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, said in a statement on Thursday.
Trump celebrated the charges in a post on Truth Social.
“JUSTICE IN AMERICA! One of the worst human beings this Country has ever been exposed to is James Comey, the former Corrupt Head of the FBI,” he wrote in a post. “Today he was indicted by a Grand Jury on two felony counts for various illegal and unlawful acts. He has been so bad for our Country, for so long, and is now at the beginning of being held responsible for his crimes against our Nation. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
The indictment came shortly after Trump instructed Bondi to “move now” to prosecute Comey and other officials he considers political foes, in an extraordinarily direct social media post trampling on the justice department’s tradition of independence.
The charges came less than a week after Lindsey Halligan was installed as the top federal prosecutor in the eastern district of Virginia, after Trump fired her predecessor, Erik Siebert, after he declined to bring charges against Comey over concerns there was insufficient evidence.
Halligan, most recently a White House aide and former Trump lawyer who has no prosecutorial experience, was also presented with a memo earlier this week laying out why charges should not be brought. But the justice department still pushed it through, people familiar with the matter said.
The indictment, filed in federal court in the eastern district of Virginia, shows grand jurors charged Comey was charged with obstructing “a congressional investigation into the disclosure of sensitive information” and making a false statement to the FBI when he said he did not authorize someone at the agency to be an anonymous source. Prosecutors sought a third charge against Comey, but grand jurors rejected the request, court documents show.
“Today, your FBI took another step in its promise of full accountability,” Kash Patel, the FBI director, said in a statement.
Mark Warner, a Democratic senator from Virginia, condemned the charges.
“Donald Trump has made clear that he intends to turn our justice system into a weapon for punishing and silencing his critics,” he said in a statement. “This kind of interference is a dangerous abuse of power. Our system depends on prosecutors making decisions based on evidence and the law, not on the personal grudges of a politician determined to settle scores.”
Days before submitting his resignation under pressure, Siebert reportedly conveyed to his superiors at the justice department that the cases against Comey and James were unlikely to result in charges.
In social media posts on Saturday, Trump claimed that Comey, James and a third political opponent, Democratic senator Adam Schiff of California, were “guilty as hell” and that his supporters were upset that “nothing has been done”.
“We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility,” Trump posted. They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!”
Trump’s contempt for Comey stretches back to the early days of his first term, when according to Comey, Trump sought to secure a pledge of loyalty from the then FBI director, who refused. At the time, Comey was leading the criminal investigation into Russian meddling in the US election. Trump dismissed Comey in May 2017.
Earlier this year, Comey was investigated by the Secret Service after he shared and then deleted a cryptic social media post of seashells in the formation of “8647” that Trump’s allies alleged was an incitement of violence against the president.
Comey said he opposed violence of any kind and said he was unaware that “86” had a violent connotation. Comey voluntarily sat for an interview with the agency.
