Whew! What To Know About Indictment Of Ex-FBI Director James Comey Amid Prosecution Push From Trump

On Thursday (September 25), officials charged James Comey with lying to Congress. This criminal case comes days after President Donald Trump seemingly pushed his attorney general to prosecute the former FBI director and other alleged political enemies.

Let’s break down what’s really going on and what will likely happen next.

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The Context Before The Charges

The president singled out Comey in a social media post last Saturday. He urged AG Pam Bondi to charge him, complaining about the DOJ’s lack of charges against his foes. “We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility,” Trump wrote, referencing the fact that he had been indicted and impeached multiple times.

Then, the Eastern District of Virginia office made its move. The agency filed the case against Comey following a lil’ bit of internal chaos, too. Chief prosecutor Erik Siebert had resigned on Friday. According to the Associated Press, he faced pressure to charge another of Trump’s targets, New York Attorney General Letitia James, in a mortgage fraud investigation. He didn’t charge Comey or James. In Erik Siebert’s place, President Trump nominated Lindsey Halligan. Halligan is a White House aide who had been one of Trump’s personal lawyers. She has not previously served as a federal prosecutor.

New to the prosecutor game, Halligan still rushed to present the James Comey case to a grand jury this week. She had until Tuesday to bring a case against him for allegedly lying to Congress during testimony on Sept. 30, 2020. After that, the five-year statute of limitations would have expired, making it impossible for the DOJ to charge the former FBI director criminally. Halligan pushed for the indictment despite other prosecutors citing concern in a memo about pursuing it.

What Is James Comey Being Accused Of?

Ultimately, James Comey was indicted on two counts. However, the indictment does not deal with the substance of the Russian investigation. Instead, it accuses the former director of making a false statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee and obstructing a congressional proceeding.

Halligan argued that Comey lied when he said he had not authorized anyone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source in news reports about a particular investigation. It’s not clear what the alleged source shared with the media then. Additionally, the indictment alleges that James Comey did “corruptly endeavor to influence, obstruct and impede the due and proper exercise” of the Senate’s inquiry.

Comey, in a video posted after his indictment, said, “My heart is broken for the Department of Justice, but I have great confidence in the federal judicial system, and I’m innocent. So let’s have a trial.”

Comey’s Indictment Is Connected To 2016 Election

James Comey was fired months into Trump’s first administration. Since then, he has remained a top target for Trump and his supporters seeking retaliation related to the Russia investigation. The president has for years said the investigation was a “hoax” and a “witch hunt.”

But, Comey is now the first ex-senior government official to face prosecution over Trump’s refusal to accept the results of the 2016 election investigation. Multiple government reviews have shown that Moscow, Russia, interfered with the election on behalf of the Republicans’ campaign. That’s the election that gave Trump the win over Hillary Clinton. For context, Robert Mueller and prosecutors did not establish that Trump or his associates criminally colluded with Russia. However, they did find that Trump’s campaign had welcomed Moscow’s assistance.

Donald Trump & His Supporters React To The Indictment

Since James Comey’s indictment, Donald Trump has reacted several times via social media. At about 7 p.m. ET, the president called it “JUSTICE IN AMERICA” on Truth Social. He added that Comey is “one of the worst human beings” the U.S. has been exposed to. Adding that the ex-director is the “former Corrupt Head of the FBI.”

“Today [James Comey] was indicted by a Grand Jury on two felony counts for various illegal and unlawful acts,” Trump wrote on Thursday. “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!”

In a second Truth Social post early Friday, Donald Trump continued to go in on Comey. He accused the former FBI director of being a liar and dirty cop who “got caught.”

“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”

AG Pam Bondi, a Trump loyalist, and FBI Director Kash Patel, a longtime critic of the Russia investigation, issued similar statements. “No one is above the law,” Bondi said.

Trump & Comey BEEN HAD Beef!

A lil’ bit about James Comey. He was a senior Justice Department official in Republican President George W. Bush’s administration. Then, Obama picked him to lead the FBI in 2013. Comey was director when the bureau opened the Russia investigation in the summer of 2016.

Not surprisingly, James Comey’s relationship with Donald Trump was strained from the jump! Things worsened when Comey resisted Trump’s request at a private White House dinner to pledge personal loyalty to him. After refusing, the FBI director also documented the request in a memo. Trump later fired James Comey in May 2017. Robert Mueller later investigated the firing for potential obstruction of justice.

After being let go, James Comey authorized a close friend to share what he wrote in an unclassified memo with a reporter. The memo documented an Oval Office request from Donald Trump to shut down an FBI investigation into his first national security adviser, Michael Flynn. Trump and his allies later branded Comey a leaker. Additionally, the president even accused him of treason. Comey himself has called Trump “ego-driven” and likened him to a mafia don.

James Comey’s Family Is Feeling The Heat, Too!

Earlier this year, the FBI fired Comey’s daughter, Maurene Comey, from her job as a prosecutor in the Southern District of New York. She has since sued. She claims the termination was carried out without any explanation and for political reasons.

Separately, Comey’s son-in-law, Troy Edwards, resigned as a federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia minutes after Comey was indicted. In a one-sentence resignation letter addressed to Halligan, Edwards wrote that he quit his job “to uphold my oath to the Constitution and the country.”

Associated Press staff Eric Tucker, Alanna Durkin Richer and Michael Kunzelman contributed to this report via AP Newsroom.