James Comey: Former FBI director indicted amid Donald Trump’s push to prosecute foes

Former FBI director James B Comey was indicted Thursday, local time, on allegations he lied to Congress, two people familiar with the matter said, following an extraordinary demand from President Donald Trump for the Justice Department to prosecute a man he has long considered a political foe.

The indictment by a Federal grand jury in Alexandria charges Mr Comey with one count of making false statements and one count of obstruction of Congress, said the people familiar with its contents, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to publicly discuss the case.

The grand jury declined to indict Mr Comey on a third count sought by prosecutors, the people familiar with the matter said. The details of the third count sought by prosecutors was not immediately clear.

Mr Comey has previously denied wrongdoing. His attorneys did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.

The case had recently been rejected by Erik S Siebert, the Trump-appointed interim US attorney overseeing the case, who concluded there was insufficient evidence to suggest Mr Comey had committed a crime and advised against seeking an indictment.

Mr Siebert resigned last week under intense pressure from the Trump administration, in part because of that decision. Mr Trump, in social media posts the following day, demanded Attorney General Pam Bondi move quickly to prosecute Mr Comey and other perceived political adversaries and appointed a replacement for Mr Siebert who he said would “get things moving.”

Ms Bondi, in a social media post Thursday after the indictment against Comey was returned, 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,” she said. “We will follow the facts in this case.”

Mr Siebert’s successor, Lindsey Halligan - one of Mr Trump’s former personal attorneys and a White House aide - had no prior prosecutorial experience before she was sworn in Monday as the new US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

The case against Mr Comey centres on testimony he gave before the Senate Judiciary Committee in September 2020 amid a hearing on the FBI’s investigation into Russian interference with Mr Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

The indictment filed Thursday makes Mr Comey the first senior government official to face prosecution in connection with the Russia probe - an investigation that Mr Trump and his supporters have long derided as a “witch hunt” and a “Democratic hoax” despite several government investigations that concluded Moscow had sought to interfere in the race on Mr Trump’s behalf.

Mr Comey was originally appointed as FBI director in 2013 by President Barack Obama. He was fired by Mr Trump in 2017 amid acrimony largely stemming from the FBI’s handling of the Russia investigation.

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