Former FBI Director and Trump critic James Comey indicted on two charges
Former FBI director James Comey says ‘I’m innocent’ after fresh charges
- The Department of Justice indicted James Comey, a previous FBI director, for making false statements and obstructing justice during congressional testimony in September 2020.
- The indictment follows public demands from the president for the Attorney General to prosecute his political adversaries, with Comey being one of the individuals specifically named.
- Comey, who was dismissed by the president in 2017, declared his innocence on Instagram, accusing the president of being a “tyrant” and expressing confidence in the federal judicial system.
- The charges were brought shortly after the US Attorney for the Eastern District, Erik Siebert, resigned amid pressure to pursue a case against New York Attorney General Leticia James without evidence, leading to his replacement by Lindsey Halligan, a personal lawyer for the president.
- The indictment has drawn strong reactions, with the president celebrating it, while Senator Adam Schiff criticised it as a “blatant abuse” of the department, and Comey's son-in-law, Troy Edwards, resigned from his federal prosecutor role in protest.