Comey was indicted by a grand jury on charges of making a false statement and obstruction in a criminal case.
By Joseph Lord
Federal prosecutors on Thursday announced they had won an indictment of former FBI Director James Comey in federal courts.
Comey was indicted by a grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on charges of making a false statement and obstruction in a criminal case.
The indictment of Comey on two felony counts was confirmed by President Donald Trump, who said the former FBI director is “now at the beginning of being held responsible for his crimes against our Nation.”
In a post on X apparently referencing the indictment, Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote: “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. We will follow the facts in this case.”
FBI Director Kash Patel echoed the sentiment, writing on X: “For far too long, previous corrupt leadership and their enablers weaponized federal law enforcement, damaging once proud institutions and severely eroding public trust.”
He said political weaponization was most “blatant during the Russiagate hoax, a disgraceful chapter in history we continue to investigate and expose.”
“Everyone, especially those in positions of power, will be held to account—no matter their perch,” Patel concluded. “No one is above the law.”
Neither official named Comey directly.
The Department of Justice didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
During his Sept. 30, 2020, testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Comey was questioned about his role in and awareness of a 2016 to 2017 plan by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee in 2016, to discredit her Republican opponent, then-candidate Trump.
Comey told the panel he had no knowledge of a CIA memo sent to him to inform him of the plan.
A week later, then-Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe released a redacted form of the 2016 memo apprising Comey of intelligence suggesting that Clinton had approved such a plan.
Notes by John Brennan—who served as director of the CIA during the 2016 election—showed that the CIA had obtained intelligence of “alleged approval by Hillary Clinton on 26 July of a proposal from one of her foreign policy advisers to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russia security services.”
Investigations into alleged collusion between Trump’s 2016 campaign staff and Russia—first by the FBI in an operation dubbed “Crossfire Hurricane” and later by DOJ Special Counsel Robert Mueller III—dominated headlines during Trump’s first term.
In April 2019, Mueller’s report was released to the public. The report “did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.”
Later investigations have vindicated critics of the FBI’s handling of the probe into allegations of collusion.
In May 2023, a final investigation into the Crossfire Hurricane operation by Special Counsel John Durham concluded that the probe was “seriously deficient,” and that agents involved in the case had been driven by “confirmation bias” in pursuing the investigation.
The investigations into alleged collusion, which resulted from the claims made by the Clinton campaign, cost taxpayers around $32 million.
The indictment comes after the former U.S. attorney overseeing the case, Erik Siebert, resigned from the post after he refused to bring charges against Letitia James, the New York attorney general, for mortgage fraud, citing a lack of evidence.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump described Siebert as “a Democrat supported U.S. Attorney … with a really bad Republican past.”
In the same post, Trump called on Attorney General Pam Bondi and other DOJ officials to investigate and prosecute Comey, James, and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), whom the president believes committed criminal offenses.
In the post, addressed to Bondi, Trump said that the three are “all guilty … but nothing is going to be done.”
“We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility. They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!” Trump wrote.
Following Siebert’s resignation, Trump replaced him in the post with Lindsey Halligan.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump described Halligan—who formerly served as his personal attorney—as “a tough, smart, and loyal attorney, who has worked with me for a long time, including in the winning fight against the Weaponization of our Justice System.”
EpochNewsWire
