A federal grand jury in Virginia on Thursday formally charged former FBI Director James Comey with lying to Congress and obstruction of a congressional proceeding, days after President Donald Trump forced out the U.S. attorney who had opposed bringing the case and publicly urged his attorney general to prosecute it.
The decision by the Justice Department to indict Comey came over the objections of career prosecutors, according to two sources familiar with the case, who assessed that the evidence didn’t support charging Comey with a crime.
Trump’s DOJ revived the allegation that Comey misled Congress, despite it having been reviewed and passed over by a Trump-appointed special counsel, John Durham.
Newly installed U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan for the Eastern District of Virginia announced the grand jury indictment of Comey just before 7 p.m. “The charges as alleged in this case represent a breach of the public trust at an extraordinary level,” her statement read, according to a Justice Department news release. “The balance of power is a bedrock principal of our democracy, and it relies upon accountability and a forthright presentation of facts from executive leadership to congressional oversight. Any intent to avoid, evade, prevent, or obstruct compliance is a violation of professional responsibility and, most importantly, the law.”
According to the indictment released later, Comey was charged with lying to a senator in a September 2020 hearing when the former FBI director said he had not “authorized someone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source in news reports” regarding an FBI investigation. The obstruction charge is related to making a false statement during that hearing, according to the indictment.
Comey responded to the indictment by condemning the president for destroying the independence of the Justice Department and urging Americans to have hope for their democracy.
“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. We will not live on our knees, and you shouldn’t either,” Comey said a video statement on Instagram. “Somebody that I love dearly recently said that fear is the tool of a tyrant and she’s right. But I’m not afraid and I hope you’re not either. I hope instead you are engaged, you are paying attention, and you will vote like your beloved country depends on it, which it does. My heart is broken for the Department of Justice, but I have great confidence in the federal judicial system and I’m innocent. So let’s have a trial and keep the faith.”
Comey’s son-in-law, the deputy chief of the national security section in the office where the charges were filed, resigned in protest over Comey’s indictment.
“To uphold my oath to the Constitution and country, I hereby resign as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia in the Department of Justice effective immediately,” Troy A. Edwards, Jr., wrote in an email to Halligan.
The filing of felony charges based on five-year-old testimony before Congress, against a man whom Trump has identified as one of his chief political enemies, underscores the extent to which Trump has shattered the post-Watergate norm that the Justice Department would operate independently of the White House on criminal matters. Trump has not only ended that tradition, but he has bent the Justice Department to his will, firing prosecutors and FBI agents his supporters don’t like, quashing politically inconvenient criminal cases, and pushing for criminal investigations against his adversaries.
Trump named Halligan as the new interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia this week after her predecessor, Erik Siebert, another Trump appointee, resigned under pressure for expressing reservations about the justification to bring these charges.
Halligan’s announcement said Comey faces up to five years in prison if convicted of making false statements and obstruction related to his 2020 congressional testimony regarding the FBI’s investigations during the 2016 election campaign.
The Comey case is a prime example of Trump’s promise to punish political adversaries. Trump’s DOJ revived the allegation that Comey misled Congress, despite it having been reviewed and passed over by a Trump-appointed special counsel, John Durham, who brought a skeptical eye to the FBI’s investigation of Russian interference in the U.S. 2016 election. As the revived Comey case seemed to stall last week, Trump boasted about forcing out Siebert. In a Truth Social post addressed to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Trump said Siebert “lied to the media and said he quit, and that we had no case. No, I fired him, and there is a GREAT CASE, and many lawyers, and legal pundits, say so.” Trump continued, “We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility. They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!” Trump replaced Siebert with Halligan, a loyalist who was one of his defense lawyers. She has never served as a prosecutor. Earlier this week, two people familiar with the matter told MSNBC that prosecutors in the office presented Halligan with a memo arguing that there wasn’t enough evidence to establish probable cause that Comey committed a crime, the sources reported, let alone enough evidence to convince a jury to convict him. Justice Department guidelines say a case should not be brought unless prosecutors believe it’s more likely than not that they can get a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt. Halligan moved forward with the case nonetheless.
Ken Dilanian is the justice and intelligence correspondent for MS NOW.
Carol Leonnig is a senior investigative reporter with MS NOW. Recommended
