The US Justice Department said it had indicted former FBI Director James Comey on criminal charges of false statements and obstruction on Thursday, in an escalation of President Donald Trump’s campaign to seek retribution against people who have investigated or criticised him.
If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison.
Trump fired Comey in 2017, early in the Republican president’s first term in office. He has since regularly assailed Comey’s handling of the FBI investigation that detailed contacts between Russians and Trump’s 2016 campaign.
Since Trump returned to office in January, his Justice Department has been examining Comey’s 2020 testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee when he addressed Republican criticisms of the Russia investigation and denied that he had authorised disclosures of sensitive information to the news media.
The case against Comey, who served as FBI director from 2013 until 2017, marked the starkest example of the Trump administration using its law enforcement power against a prominent critic after the president promised retribution during his successful 2024 election campaign.
The grand jury’s indictment came after the president mentioned Comey by name in a social media post chiding Trump-appointed US Attorney General Pam Bondi for not moving quickly enough to bring criminal charges against his most prominent antagonists, writing “JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW”.
01:44
Fired FBI Director Comey says Trump is ‘morally unfit’ as leader