On September 25, 2025, James Comey, a former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), was indicted by a federal grand jury in Virginia on two counts: one charge of making a false statement to Congress, and one charge of obstructing a congressional proceeding. The charges are related to Comey's testimony during a September 30, 2020, Senate Judiciary Committee hearing about the FBI's investigation of links between Russia and the 2016 Trump presidential campaign, and he was indicted just before the five-year statute of limitations ran out. The indictment followed President Trump's removal of U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert, who had opposed bringing charges, and his installation of Lindsey Halligan, a political loyalist with no prosecutorial experience, who secured the indictment days before the statute of limitations expired.

Comey's defense argued the charges were baseless because Senator Ted Cruz's 2020 questions were ambiguous, Comey's answers were literally true, and the obstruction count fails to specify any false statements. They also allege grand-jury misconduct, including Halligan keeping jurors late, signing two indictments, and allowing improper testimony, framing the prosecution as vindictive and politically driven. Federal judges have sharply criticized the government's handling of the case, ordered the release of grand-jury materials, and reviewed whether Halligan's appointment itself was lawful. Comey pleaded not guilty.

A trial was scheduled for January 2026. The charges were dismissed without prejudice on November 24 after Halligan's appointment was ruled unlawful, but the Justice Department has announced that it intends to appeal the ruling. On December 9, the Justice Department referred to the legal dispute in a court filing as a "pending criminal investigation" and "a potential federal criminal prosecution", which has been suggested to indicate that the Department intends to seek a new indictment against Comey.

Background Former president Barack Obama nominated Comey to become the Director of the FBI in June 2013, and he was sworn in on September 4. Among his responsibilities was overseeing an FBI investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, a portion of which focused on possible coordination between Russia and members of the 2016 Trump presidential campaign. Donald Trump fired Comey on May 9, 2017, and shortly after, Trump said he was motivated by the latter investigation.

Before he was fired, Comey had been writing notes to memorialize his one-on-one meetings with Trump, and after he was fired, he shared one of them with Daniel Richman, a Columbia Law School professor and friend of Comey's. After Comey was indicted, Richman shared that memo with The New York Times.

During a September 30, 2020, Senate Judiciary Committee hearing into the FBI's investigation of links between Trump associates and Russian officials, in response to questioning from U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, Comey denied having authorized anonymous leaks to The Wall Street Journal for an October 2016 article. In a December 2020 letter to the Department of Justice, Cruz wrote that former FBI official Andrew McCabe had said Comey was aware of McCabe's authorization of a leak, contradicting Comey's denials. Cruz's questioning of Comey in 2020 addressed both "the Clinton investigation" regarding her private email server, as well as "matters relating to the Trump investigation" about Russian interference.

A lengthy report was issued by prosecutor John Durham in 2023 about Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, and Durham's report concluded that "not every injustice or transgression amounts to a criminal offense, and criminal prosecutors are tasked exclusively with investigating and prosecuting violations of U.S. criminal laws." Lawyers from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington, D.C. and prosecutors in Virginia "reached the same conclusion" as Durham, in the words of ABC News:

Based in part on discussions with Durham, those federal prosecutors working for U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan advised that charges should not be brought against Comey. She opted to bring three charges, and the grand jury agreed with two of them.

The five-year statute of limitations would have expired on September 30, 2025. Erik Siebert, the interim U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, reportedly recommended against charging Comey, and Trump then pressured him into resigning. In a Truth Social post, Trump publicly pressured Attorney General Pam Bondi to install loyalist Lindsey Halligan, his former personal attorney, in the role to push forward charges against adversaries, including Comey. Siebert resigned on September 19, 2025, and Halligan replaced him as interim U.S. Attorney on September 22.

Feud with Donald Trump

The public feud between Trump and Comey stems from Comey's oversight of the FBI's investigation into possible ties between the 2016 Trump presidential campaign and Russia, his subsequent dismissal by Trump, and their escalating public animosity.

In March 2017, Comey publicly confirmed that the FBI had opened a counterintelligence investigation into whether individuals associated with the Trump campaign had coordinated with Russian operatives. Trump reacted angrily, calling the probe a "Russiagate hoax" and a "witch hunt" and demanding personal loyalty from Comey in private meetings, including urging him to drop the FBI's inquiry into National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

Trump abruptly dismissed Comey on May 9, 2017, later citing the investigation as the reason. While the White House initially attributed the firing to Comey's handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation, Trump later acknowledged he was thinking about "this Russia thing" when he made the decision. The dismissal led to the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate potential obstruction of justice by Trump.

Following his firing, Comey became an outspoken critic of Trump. His 2018 memoir A Higher Loyalty portrayed Trump as "unethical", "untethered to truth", and "like a mafia boss". Trump responded on social media and in interviews, calling Comey a "leaker", an "untruthful slimeball", and claimed Comey should face charges for "treason".

According to ABC News, Trump privately vented that Comey's daughter Maurene Comey worked in his administration. On July 16, 2025, Maurene Comey, a senior trial counsel who had worked in the U.S. attorney's office for nearly a decade, was fired from the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York without cause, the day after taking the lead on a major corruption case. On September 15, 2025, Maurene Comey filed a lawsuit against the DOJ for wrongful termination and retaliation for her familial connection.

In September 2025, Trump publicly praised the Justice Department's indictment of James Comey and suggested that additional political opponents could face prosecution. "It's not a list, but I think there will be others", Trump told reporters, while describing Comey as "a dirty cop" who "lied". He added, "For him, it was a very good answer if he didn't get caught. He got caught."

President Trump has commented publicly about the case, stating at Truth Social: "One of the worst human beings this Country has ever been exposed to is James Comey, the former Corrupt Head of the FBI", and also saying the case is about "justice not revenge."Haworth, Jon. "Trump applauds James Comey indictment: 'It's about justice, not revenge'", ABC News (Sep 26, 2025). Additionally, at Truth Social, Trump has said that Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James and U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff are "all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to get done."

A defiant Comey recorded a video on Instagram insisting he's innocent and would not be cowed by Trump:

Charges

Lindsey Halligan, sworn in on September 22, 2025, three days later led a federal grand jury to return a two-count indictment against former FBI Director James B. Comey. The charges stem from his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 30, 2020, during a hearing on the FBI's handling of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.

Count one: False statements to Congress (18 U.S.C. § 1001(a)(2))

Count One alleges that during a September 30, 2020 hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Comey "willfully and knowingly" made a materially false statement when he testified that he had not authorized anyone at the FBI to serve as an anonymous source for news reporting about an FBI investigation concerning "Person 1." The indictment asserts that Comey knew the statement was false because he had, in fact, authorized another FBI official ("Person 3") to act as such a source.

Comey's attorneys argue that Cruz's question was "fundamentally ambiguous", that Cruz appeared to be asking exclusively about former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, and that Comey's reply—"I stand by my prior testimony"—was literally true regardless of whether his earlier testimony was itself correct.

Count two: Obstruction of a Congressional proceeding (18 U.S.C. § 1505)

Count Two charges that Comey corruptly endeavored to obstruct the Senate Judiciary Committee's inquiry by making false and misleading statements during the same 2020 hearing, thereby impeding the committee's "due and proper exercise" of its investigative authority.

Comey's attorneys argue that the obstruction charge is legally defective because the indictment does not identify which statements were false or how they obstructed Congress, and they sought a bill of particulars requiring prosecutors to specify the factual basis for the allegation.

Nature of the indictment

The indictment is not a detailed "speaking indictment" and does not identify which specific statements or press reports form the basis of either charge. News reports speculated that the charges may relate to Comey's communications with Richman and to materials from the FBI's internal leak inquiry known as "Arctic Haze".

Indictment As the statute of limitations for the charges was set to expire in the leadup to the indictment, Trump pressured the interim US Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, Erik Siebert, who reportedly recommended against charging Comey, into resigning. Trump publicly pressured Attorney General Pam Bondi to install loyalist Lindsey Halligan, his former personal attorney, in the role to push forward charges against adversaries including Comey, in a Truth Social post on September 20. On October 8, U.S. officials told The Wall Street Journal that Trump had believed he was messaging Bondi privately when he mistakenly posted his message to Truth Social.

On September 25, 2025, Comey was indicted by a federal grand jury in Virginia on two counts: one charge of making a false statement to Congress, and one charge of obstructing a congressional proceeding. He denies the charges.Mallin, Alexander. "Friend of former FBI Director James Comey subpoenaed in federal probe: Sources", ABC News (Sep 17, 2025). A trial is set for January 5, 2026.Lybrand, Holmes et al. "Former FBI Director James Comey enters not guilty plea; trial set for January 5", CNN (Oct 8, 2025).

The 23-person grand jury voted against a third charge.Walsh, Joe. "A grand jury charged Comey with 2 criminal counts — but rejected a third. Here's what they say", CBS News (Sep 26, 2025). The two charges are related to Comey's testimony during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing into the FBI's investigation of links between Russia and the 2016 Trump presidential campaign on September 30, 2020; the five-year statute of limitations would have run out on September 30, 2025.