Breaking down US legal case against former FBI director Comey

The former US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey has been indicted on two charges, including lying to Congress, making him the first former senior government official to face charges tied to a story from his first term that continues to shadow President Donald Trump: the alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election that brought him to the White House.

Comey led the FBI, which is a subagency of the Department of Justice and not a cabinet-level position, with a maximum 10-year term for its directors. He served from 2013 until 2017, first under President Barack Obama and then briefly under Trump, who dismissed him while he was overseeing an investigation into whether Trump or his campaign had colluded with Russia to sway the election, which Trump, the Republican candidate, won against Democrat Hillary Clinton.

The following article examines the charges against Comey and the Russia investigation that fuelled years of conflict with Trump.

As an article by Al Jazeera notes, the current case does not revisit the details of the Russia probe itself but zeroes in on whether Comey lied to senators during his 2020 testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The timing of the indictment is also critical, as the five-year statute of limitations for charges stemming from that testimony was set to expire next week.

Details of 2025 indictment

On September 30, 2020, Republican Senator Ted Cruz pressed Comey during a hearing on whether he had ever authorized FBI officials to leak information to the press about probes into Hillary Clinton’s emails and potential ties between Trump’s campaign and Russia. Comey responded that he had never allowed anyone at the bureau to act as an anonymous source in news reports.

That answer contradicted testimony from former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who asserted that Comey had, in fact, granted such approval.

The indictment’s first charge — making false statements — alleges that Comey knowingly lied under oath in that hearing. The second — obstruction of a congressional proceeding — claims he sought to interfere with the committee’s inquiry by providing false and misleading testimony.

What was Comey testifying about in 2020?

The Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee was investigating missteps in the FBI’s handling of the Russia probe. A 2018 transcript from another Republican-led committee revealed Comey had testified that the FBI launched its inquiry in July 2016 by scrutinizing “four Americans who had some connection to Mr. Trump during the summer of 2016” and whether they were linked to “the Russian interference effort.”

In 2020, senators pressed Comey on the FBI’s use of a dossier containing unverified claims about Trump’s ties to Moscow. That dossier — since largely discredited, according to Al Jazeera — was used to secure a warrant to surveil a former Trump campaign adviser. Comey admitted the errors in the warrant were serious but defended the overall probe as having been “in the main, conducted in the right way.” Questions about whether he had authorized FBI officials to brief the press arose in this context.

Legal fine print behind an indictment

The US Department of Justice explains that an indictment is a formal notice that someone is suspected of committing a crime and will stand trial. It follows a grand jury’s determination that enough evidence exists to proceed.

The defendant first appears at an arraignment, where charges are read, and a plea is entered. Pretrial steps then include evidence exchange and motions, with the possibility of a plea deal.

If no deal is reached, the case moves to trial, where a jury decides guilt or innocence. If convicted, sentencing follows. In Comey’s case, a guilty verdict could mean up to five years in prison.

What to look out for

Comey’s arraignment is scheduled for October 9 in Virginia. His lawyer, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, issued a statement saying his client “denies the charges in their entirety.”

Comey himself posted a video on Instagram responding to the indictment. He said: “My family and I have known for years that there are costs to standing up to Donald Trump. [...] I have great confidence in the federal judicial system and I’m innocent. So let’s have a trial and keep the faith.”

By Nazrin Sadigova