Overview

• The indictment charges James Comey with making false statements to the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2020 and obstructing a congressional inquiry, offenses that could carry up to five years in prison.
• A grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia returned the case after prosecutors brought charges close to the statute-of-limitations deadline.
• Days before the filing, President Trump publicly urged Bondi to pursue cases against Comey, Adam Schiff and Letitia James; the department then charged Comey and opened inquiries into Schiff and James.
• After the prior U.S. attorney resigned over resistance to the case, Trump’s former personal lawyer Lindsey Halligan was appointed to lead the prosecution, and Comey’s defense plans to challenge her appointment.
• At Senate oversight hearings, Democrats alleged politicization as some career prosecutors had warned against charging, while DOJ officials said the evidence supports moving forward.