Former FBI Director James Comey Indicted Amid Trump Pressure Campaign
Former FBI Director James Comey has been indicted by a grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia.
Comey was reportedly indicted on one count of making false statements and one count of obstruction of justice for allegedly lying under oath to Congress. The 12 grand jurors reportedly declined to indict on additional charges.
President Donald Trump recently pressured Attorney General Pam Bondi to go after Comey and others the president considers his enemies.
Legal scholars have said that Comey’s attorneys could argue that he’s the victim of a”targeted prosecution” to a judge.
Bondi posted to X shortly after news of the indictment, writing, “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.”
MSNBC’s Ken Dilanian said the case was presented to the grand jury for several hours this afternoon.
“And the two counts, as you mentioned, making false statements and obstruction of justice. We don’t have the details, so we don’t know if it’s as we have assumed that it would be connected to the statement that James Comey made to the Senate five years ago that was closing in on the statute of limitations lapsing on Tuesday,” Dilanian said.
Dilanian called the indictment “unprecedented.”
He continued:
We’ve never seen this before in post-Watergate American history and probably pre-Watergate American history. A president publicly calling for his Justice Department to charge particular individuals. That’s what happened. And then this particular individual, James Comey, was charged, and it happened after the U.S. Attorney in this district who had been appointed by Donald Trump and who we have reported was raising questions about this case, was forced out of office by Donald Trump. So the stage is set here for a federal judge to take a look at this and say that this was not appropriate.
Watch above via MSNBC.
