ExclusiveEx-FBI Director James Comey Indicted With False Statements and Obstruction

The Justice Department said it had indicted former FBI Director James Comey on criminal charges of false statements and obstruction on Thursday. Comey was indicted by a grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on charges of making a false statement and obstruction in a criminal case. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison. In a post on X apparently referencing the indictment, Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote, 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. Comey was appointed by former President Barack Obama in September 2013 and fired by President Donald Trump in May 2017 during his first term in the White House. He told Congress in 2017 that he did not authorize leaking information regarding the FBI's investigations into President Donald Trump or former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In another testimony on September 30th, 2020, he reasserted that he didn't leak the information by saying, I stand by the testimony. However, according to a 2018 Justice Department inspector general's report, Andrew McCabe, Comey's deputy, said that Comey authorized him to leak information to the press.