Former FBI Director Comey Charged Amid Trump Retribution Push

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 filing of charges capped days of speculation over whether the Justice Department would bring the high-profile case against Comey, who has clashed with the president for years. 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.

Since taking office in January, Trump has often discussed going after political opponents and other perceived enemies. He recently issued a directive to Attorney General Pam Bondi in a social media post demanding urgent action against some of them, including Comey.

Trump cheered the charges on his Truth Social network.

James Comey

Photographer: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

“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.”

Maurene Comey, the former FBI director’s daughter, was ousted in July from her job as a federal prosecutor in New York. At the time she said in a message to office colleagues that she “was summarily fired via memo from Main Justice that did not give a reason for my termination.”

Read More: Ex-FBI Chief Comey’s Daughter Ousted as Federal Prosecutor

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.

The Justice Department’s Inspector General issued a report on the dispute in February 2018 and concluded that Comey didn’t authorize the leak.

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. She previously served as a senior aide in the White House and was tasked with reviewing exhibits at the Smithsonian’s museums as part of the president’s initiative for “restoring truth and sanity to American history.”

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

--With assistance from Jimmy Jenkins and Benjamin Penn.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Chris Strohm in Washington at cstrohm1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Sara Forden at sforden@bloomberg.net

Peter Blumberg

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