The Federal Jury has indicted former FBI director James Comey on charges of lying to Congress and obstructing him.
Former FBI Director James Comey responds to his indictment
Former FBI director James Comey responded to indictments from the Trump administration via Instagram and called on voters to continue their engagement.
News that former FBI director James Comey has sparked responses from many high-ranking leaders across political spheres on charges of federal ju judges lying to Congress.
The indictment comes from testimony held in Parliament on September 30, 2020, and concerns the FBI’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Prosecutors allegedly lied about whether Comey allowed someone from the FBI to provide anonymous information about an investigation into the news outlet.
“My heart is broken for the Department of Justice, but I have great confidence in the federal justice system,” Comey said in an Instagram video. “I’m innocent, so let’s go to court and maintain the faith that my family and I have known for years.”
Comey was FBI director from 2013 to 2017, when President Donald Trump fired him during a Russian investigation.
Trump calls Comey “one of the worst people in the country.”
Trump celebrated the news of Comey’s indictment on social media.
“American Justice! One of the worst people this country has ever exposed is James Comey, the former corrupt head of the FBI,” Trump posted to The Society of Truth. “He was so bad for our country for so long and now it’s the beginning of his responsibility for his crimes against our country. Make America great again!”
In a subsequent post, Trump called Comey a “dirty cop.”
“Whether you like corrupt James Comey or not, I can’t imagine there are too many people who like him, he lied! It’s not a complicated lie, it’s very simple, but it’s important. He has no way of explaining how to get out of it,” Trump wrote.
On September 26, the president told reporters that he had left the White House and that the accusations against Comey were not retaliatory.
“It’s about justice, not about revenge,” Trump said.
The president recently kicked out a top prosecutor in eastern Virginia when he refused to file charges against another Trump enemy, New York Attorney General Letitia James. Trump then appointed Lindsay Harrigan, a former member of his criminal defense team and White House aide, to the job, who pursued a charge against Comey.
In a post on the True Society on September 20th, Trump publicly addressed Attorney General Pam Bondy, who said Comey “sinned like hell.” “We can’t delay it anymore,” Trump said, “Justice must be provided now!!!”
Bondi, Patel on Comey’s indictment: “No one is beyond the law”
Members of the Trump administration also commented on the accusations. FBI Director Kash Patel called the indictment “full accountability” in a social media statement.
“Everyone, especially those in power, are bound to explain regardless of their perch. No one is beyond the law,” he writes.
Attorney General Pam Bondy repeated his feelings, writing to X that “no one has surpassed the law.”
“Today’s indictment reflects this Department of Justice’s commitment to holding people who abuse their positions of power accountable for misleading the American people. They will follow the facts of this case,” Bondy said.
Top Democrats respond
Sen. Dick Durbin, a top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, issued a statement denounced the Justice Department as “a vengeful political tool for a president.”
House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) called Comey’s indictment “a dishonorable attack on the rule of law.”
“There is no clear basis for malicious prosecution against James Comey in law or fact, and the department’s conscience lawyers know that. Anyone who conspiracies in this malignant corruption faces accountability,” Jeffries said in a statement.
In the 2016 election, Sen. Tim Kane of Virginia, Hillary Clinton’s running fellow, issued a statement saying, “The rule of law must win.”
“I’ve been different to James Comey in the past, but I can find accusations that were trumpeted a mile away,” Kane said.
Melina Kahn is a national trending reporter for USA Today. She can be contacted at melina.khan@usatoday.com.
