A federal grand jury in Virginia has indicted James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, 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.
While the charges have yet to be unsealed, the people familiar with the decision said the grand jury had indicted Mr. Comey on Thursday on one count of making a false statement and one count of obstruction.
The move came after Mr. Trump intensified his pressure campaign on the Justice Department in recent days, publicly demanding that top officials prosecute Mr. Comey and Letitia James, the New York attorney general who sued Mr. Trump for inflating the value of his assets while out of office.
Pam Bondi, the attorney general, appeared to post about the case without mentioning Mr. Comey by name, 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.”
Many current and former Justice Department officials said they viewed the filing of criminal charges against Mr. Comey, based on what they considered weak evidence, as deeply troubling. The consequences could be far-reaching, they argued, including prosecutors resigning over how the Trump administration has sought to use the agency, and public trust in U.S. attorneys eroding.
Last week, Mr. Trump, impatient with the lack of charges against two of his most frequent targets, forced out the U.S. attorney overseeing those investigations, Erik S. Siebert, in the Eastern District of Virginia. In his place, the president installed Lindsey Halligan, his White House aide and one of his former defense lawyers.
The investigation into Mr. Comey has focused in part on whether he misled lawmakers during testimony in September 2020 about the Russia investigation. But the statute of limitations on that testimony expires next week, meaning the clock was ticking on any related charges.
Mr. Trump has long sought to turn the criminal justice system against those who have investigated him. Unlike his first term, Mr. Trump has stocked the uppermost positions of the Justice Department with fierce loyalists, and they have pursued a criminal investigation into Mr. Comey; the former director of the C.I.A., John O. Brennan; and others who, in Mr. Trump’s telling, have plotted against him.
Devlin Barrett covers the Justice Department and the F.B.I. for The Times.
Glenn Thrush covers the Department of Justice for The Times and has also written about gun violence, civil rights and conditions in the country’s jails and prisons.
Alan Feuer covers extremism and political violence for The Times, focusing on the criminal cases involving the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and against former President Donald J. Trump.
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