A federal grand jury in Virginia has indicted James Comey in a culmination of President Trump’s relentless effort to exact retribution for investigating his 2016 presidential campaign over possible ties to Russia, according to people familiar with the decision.
Comey, a longtime adversary of the president, is now the first senior government official to face federal charges in one of Trump’s largest grievances: the 2016 investigation into whether his first presidential campaign colluded with Russia.
“JUSTICE IN AMERICA! One of the worst human beings this Country has ever been exposed to is James Comey, the former Corrupt Head of the FBI,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
Comey has been charged with giving false statements and obstruction of a congressional proceeding, and he could face up to five years in prison if convicted.
Both charges are connected to his September 30, 2020, testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee. A source told CNN’s Jake Tapper that the indictment for lying to Congress is related to the FBI’s “Arctic haze” leak investigation, related to classified information that ended up in four different newspaper articles.
