Justice Department Moves to Indict Former FBI Director James Comey Amid Allegations of Lying to Congress
The Justice Department is said to be moving closer to indicting former FBI Director James Comey on charges of perjury as the statute of limitations deadline draws near.
The case is said to be under review by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, and a grand jury is said to be considering the issue.
The investigation centers on whether Comey lied to Congress during his September 30, 2020 testimony about his role in the FBI’s handling of the Russia probe into alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Under federal law, prosecutors have five years to bring a perjury charge. That deadline arrives next Tuesday, leaving the Justice Department under pressure to decide whether to move forward.
A source familiar with the situation revealed, “DOJ officials are nearing a decision about whether to charge former FBI Director James Comey with lying to Congress in September 2020. There’s a grand jury in Virginia considering the issue. A decision could happen any day.” It is not yet known exactly what part of Comey’s testimony is being targeted or what specific charges he might face.
The case brings another twist to the extended political and legal struggles that began with the Russia investigation. Former President Donald Trump, who dismissed Comey in 2017, has frequently attacked him over his management of intelligence and alleged that Comey and former CIA Director John Brennan politicized the Russia investigation.
I think they’re very dishonest people. I think they’re crooked as hell,” Trump said last July about Comey and Brennan. “And maybe they have to pay a price for that.” He has long called the Russia investigation a “hoax” and a “rigged witch hunt” that damaged his presidency and U.S. relations with Russia.
The initial FBI investigation, called Crossfire Hurricane, was later handed over to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who, in 2019, found that there was no sufficient evidence of a criminal conspiracy between Trump’s campaign and Russia. Mueller’s report accounted for many contacts between campaign officials and Russians but refrained from accusing collusion.
The Justice Department appointed Special Counsel John Durham in 2019 to investigate the possibility of FBI misconduct in its management of Crossfire Hurricane. That investigation resulted in criminal charges against three low-ranking FBI officials. Although Durham noted what he referred to as “serious missteps” by the agency, he did not uncover any illegal behavior by senior FBI officials, including Comey.
Now, as the five-year statute of limitations for prosecuting Comey runs out, the Justice Department must decide whether to charge him. What the grand jury decides may well determine whether Comey is charged – a step that would re-ignite political fighting over the Russia investigation and the way it was managed at the top echelon of U.S. law enforcement.
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