Grand Jury Indicts Former FBI Director James Comey In 2 Of 3 Charges Related To Russian Collusion Testimony

Former FBI Director James Comey has been indicted by a federal grand jury after years of President Donald Trump kicking and screaming about launching revenge prosecutions against his political rivals.

According to CNN, Comey, who has been charged with giving false statements and obstruction of a congressional proceeding, is officially the first senior government official to face federal charges related to the 2016 investigation into whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia to hand the president his first-term victory. (You would think Trump lost in 2016 the way he and his administration have been obsessed with resurrecting this issue and serving “justice” to his detractors.)

From CNN:

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.

Appearing by Zoom, Comey testified that “he had not authorized someone else to be an anonymous source in news reports,” the indictment said. “That statement was false.”

The charges, which were presented by Lindsey Halligan, Trump’s former personal attorney and the new top prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia, initially included another alleged false statement Comey made to Congress, pertaining to a question he was asked by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham regarding rumors that Hillary Clinton, who won the popular vote against Trump in 2016, but ultimately lost the election, fueled the Russia investigation to distract the public from her use of a private email server, which Republicans fought tooth and nail to turn into the political scandal that it never shaped up to be. Halligan alleged that Comey was lying when he told Graham, “That doesn’t ring any bells with me,” but the grand jury declined to charge Comey for it.

Still, Trump, who just over the weekend, publicly demanded that Attorney General Pam Bondi prosecute several of his perceived political enemies, celebrated the indictment on his platform Truth Social.

“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.

CNN reported that attorneys inside the Eastern District of Virginia recently wrote a memo that they had deep reservations about seeking the indictment against Comey, and a person familiar with the situation told the network Bondi also has had those reservations. Of course, on Thursday, Bondi told CNN, “That is a flat-out lie.” (What else would she say, though, considering every member of Trump’s administration has had to go far and beyond in showing unconditional loyalty to the president since the start of his second term?)

Meanwhile, Comey has responded by telling the public, “Let’s have a trial, and keep the faith.”

“My family and I have known for years that there are costs to standing up to Donald Trump, but we couldn’t imagine ourselves living any other way. We will not live on our knees, and you shouldn’t either,” Comey said in a recorded video, responding to the indictment. “Somebody that I love dearly recently said that fear is the tool of a tyrant. And she’s right. But I’m not afraid. And I hope you’re not either. I hope, instead, you are engaged. You are paying attention. And you will vote like your beloved country depends upon it, which it does.”

“My heart is broken for the Department of Justice but I have great confidence in the federal judicial system and I’m innocent,” he added.

SEE ALSO:

Department Of Homeland Security Launches Investigation Into James Comey Over Cryptic ‘8647’ Post

James Comey’s Troubled Past With BLM

‘Because You Identify As Black You Are A Threat’: CBC Seeks Meeting With FBI After ‘Outlandish’ Leaked Report