A federal grand jury indicted former FBI Director James Comey on Thursday, approving charges for a top foe of the White House just days after President Trump called for his prosecution.
Comey was indicted on charges of making a false statement as well as another for obstruction of a congressional proceeding in connection with testimony he gave before the Senate in 2020.
The indictment makes Comey the first of Trump’s many perceived political enemies to face charges.
“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. We will follow the facts in this case,” Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote on X in a post that did not name Comey but appeared to reference the charges.
If convicted, Comey could face up to five years in prison, according to the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, which brought the case. He is set to be arraigned on Oct. 9.
Court documents, however, show the grand jury was divided on some of the suggested charges, declining to indict Comey on a charge related to a question about his awareness of “approval of a plan” to use talk of Trump and Russian hackers interfering in U.S. elections as a means of distracting from her use of a private email server. Comey had replied, “That doesn’t ring any bells.”
