US charges ex-FBI chief who investigated Donald Trump’s alleged Russia ties
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The US justice department has filed charges against James Comey after pressure from President Donald Trump to prosecute the former FBI director over his agency’s probe of contacts between the president’s 2016 campaign and Russia.
The Department of Justice said late on Thursday it had obtained a grand jury indictment in a federal court in Virginia against Comey, accusing him of “serious crimes related to the disclosure of sensitive information”.
The indictment cites Comey’s testimony to a US Senate committee in 2020 as the basis for one count charging him with lying to Congress and another count charging him with obstructing a congressional proceeding.
Trump celebrated the move, writing on Truth Social on Thursday evening: “JUSTICE IN AMERICA! One of the worst human beings this Country has ever been exposed to is James Comey, the former Corrupt Head of the FBI. Today he was indicted by a Grand Jury on two felony counts for various illegal and unlawful acts.”
The indictment centres on the former FBI director’s testimony before the Senate judiciary committee on September 30 2020, in which he was questioned by Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas about whether he authorised anyone at the FBI to act as an anonymous source about the bureau’s investigation into ties between Russia and Trump.
Comey said he stood by prior testimony denying he gave such authorisation. That statement conflicted with separate testimony by former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, who said Comey had done so.
The indictment came just days after the president had called on his attorney-general Pam Bondi to prosecute Comey as well as Letitia James, the New York state’s top prosecutor, who sued Trump for exaggerating the value of his real estate assets.
It marks a step up in the Trump administration’s attack on his political enemies. The justice department is also investigating Lisa Cook, a top Federal Reserve official, and Trump himself has launched a series of lawsuits against media groups and issued executive orders targeting law firms.
“No one is above the law,” Bondi said on Thursday. “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.”
A lawyer representing Comey did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Comey was fired as head of the FBI in 2017 as he was overseeing a probe into contacts between Trump’s presidential campaign and Russian officials.
Trump’s dismissal of Comey led to the appointment of Robert Mueller, who had previously led the FBI, as special counsel to take over the investigation. Mueller ultimately found no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow, and the president condemned the probe as a “witch-hunt”.
Comey and Trump have since exchanged withering attacks, with the former FBI head branding the president’s leadership as “transactional, ego driven and about personal loyalty”. In 2018, Trump called Comey “the worst leader, by far, in the history of the FBI”.
The indictment comes just days after Comey’s daughter Maurene Comey, a former prosecutor in the Manhattan US Attorney’s Office, sued the DoJ over her abrupt firing, accusing the agency of dismissing her “solely or substantially because her father is former FBI director James B Comey, or because of her perceived political affiliation and beliefs, or both”.
Maurene Comey worked on high-profile cases, including against late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell and Sean Combs.
