(WASHINGTON) — Former FBI Director James Comey was indicted Thursday on charges of making a false statement and obstruction related to his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2020, just days after President Donald Trump issued a public demand for his Justice Department to act “now” to bring prosecutions against Comey and other political foes.
Comey has been summoned to appear for arraignment on Oct. 9.
“My heart is broken for the Department of Justice. I have great confidence in the federal judicial system and I am innocent, so let’s have a trial, and keep the faith,” Comey said in a brief video posted to his Instagram account.
The former FBI director has been charged with making a false statement to Congress and obstruction of an investigative proceeding before Congress, related to his congressional testimony regarding the FBI’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Court records show the government’s initial indictment sheet, from which a grand jury declined to charge him for an additional count of making a false statement to Congress.
“No one is above the law,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi posted to social media following the indictment. “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 statement released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia said that if convicted, Comey faces up to five years in prison. “Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties,” the statement said.
Following the indictment, Comey’s son-in-law Troy Edwards, Jr. resigned from his post in the Eastern District of Virginia, where he was a national security prosecutor, according to an email obtained by ABC News.
The charges follow Trump’s ousting of the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Erik Siebert, who according to sources had expressed doubts internally about bringing cases against Comey, as well as New York Attorney General Letitia James, after Trump appointed him to lead the office.
Trump then immediately moved to install Lindsey Halligan, a White House aide and his former defense attorney, to lead the office, despite her having no prior prosecutorial experience.
Earlier this week, federal prosecutors in Virginia informed Halligan that they could not establish probable cause to charge Comey, ABC News first reported. Despite the lack of clear evidence and ethical concerns about bringing a case without clear probable cause, Halligan sought an indictment from the grand jury, sources said.
“Jim Comey denies the charges filed today in their entirety. We look forward to vindicating him in the courtroom,” said Patrick J. Fitzgerald as counsel for Comey.
In a series of social media posts over the weekend, Trump said Halligan was being appointed to the office to “get things moving,” after attacking Siebert for his resistance to bring what Trump described as a “GREAT CASE.”
“Pam Bondi is doing a GREAT job as Attorney General of the United States. She is very careful, very smart, loves our Country, but needs a tough prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia, like my recommendation, Lindsey Halligan, to get things moving,” Trump said.
The charges against Comey are the most dramatic escalation yet in what critics have described as a campaign of retribution by Trump to use the powers of the federal government to enact revenge against those he believes have wronged him.
Comey, who was fired by Trump during Trump’s first term over the investigation into Trump’s 2016 campaign and its ties to Russia, has been a vocal critic of what he says are Trump’s efforts to politicize the justice system.
That argument is now likely to be central to Comey’s defense in his criminal case, which could prove to be a highly consequential test for both the Justice Department and the federal judiciary.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Virginia began investigating Comey in early August following Trump’s renewed call for prosecutions related to alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election, sources told ABC News.
The investigation in the Eastern District of Virginia — which is being carried out concurrently in the Western District of Virginia and Eastern District of Pennsylvania — directly stemmed from FBI Director Kash Patel’s discovery of sensitive documents at the FBI headquarters related to the Russia probe, sources said.
They said the documents prompted investigators to examine whether Comey’s testimony to Congress in September 2020, regarding Russian interference, could support charges of perjury or obstruction.
Prosecutors specifically examined Comey’s testimony about Hillary Clinton’s alleged involvement linking Trump to Russia and whether Comey authorized leaks of anonymous information to the media.
ABC News’ Jack Date contributed to this report.
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