Former FBI Director Comey Charged With Lying To Congress

Former FBI Director James Comey was charged in an indictment with lying to Congress and obstruction over testimony he gave in 2020, following increased pressure from President Donald Trump to go after his perceived enemies.

The grand jury indictment was announced Thursday by US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Lindsey Halligan, who took over her post this week after being appointed by the president on an interim basis.

“The charges as alleged in this case represent a breach of the public trust at an extraordinary level,” she said in a statement.

Trump has frequently promised to go after political opponents and other enemies. He recently issued a directive to Attorney General Pam Bondi in a social media post demanding urgent action against Comey and others.

“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 on Truth Social after the indictment.

The Justice Department’s statement said that if convicted, Comey could face up to five years in prison.

Comey’s lawyer didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

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. 

The charges focus on testimony that Comey gave in which he said he never authorized anyone at the FBI to be an anonymous source in news reports. However, the indictment says that Comey authorized a person who isn’t named to leak information to reporters about another unnamed person.