Former FBI Director Comey Charged With Lying to Congress and Obstruction

Former FBI Director James Comey was charged with lying to Congress and obstruction related to testimony he gave in 2020, accelerating President Donald Trump’s push for legal action against his perceived political enemies.

The grand jury indictment was announced Thursday by a US prosecutor handpicked by Trump to start her job this week after her predecessor resigned under pressure last week.

Trump cheered the charges on his Truth Social network.

“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,” Trump wrote Thursday.

After the indictment, Comey said in a video on Instagram that he is “not afraid.”

“My family and I have known for years that there are costs to standing up to Donald Trump, but we couldn’t imagine ourselves living any other way,” he said.

If convicted, Comey could face up to five years in prison, the Justice Department said in a statement.

“Jim Comey denies the charges filed today in their entirety,” his lawyer, Patrick Fitzgerald, said in an emailed statement. “We look forward to vindicating him in the courtroom.”

Comey served as the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation from 2013 until he was fired by Trump in 2017. Trump ousted Comey while he was overseeing an investigation into whether Trump or anyone associated with his presidential campaign conspired with Russia to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.

The Russia investigation was taken over by Special Counsel Robert Mueller after Comey left and haunted Trump for years before it was closed without any charges against him.

Trump supporters have seized on testimony Comey gave to the Senate Judiciary Committee in September 2020, alleging that he committed perjury.

Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas asked Comey during the hearing if he ever authorized anyone to leak information about investigations into Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential candidate in 2016, or Trump. Comey said he stood by testimony he previously gave under oath that he did not.

Comey’s prosecution will be led by Lindsey Halligan, who was named by Trump as the interim US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia on Monday.