Overview

• An EDVA grand jury returned a two-count indictment alleging Comey lied in Sept. 30, 2020 testimony about authorizing an FBI official to act as an anonymous media source and obstructed a congressional proceeding.
• Lindsey Halligan, newly installed as interim U.S. attorney after Erik Siebert’s resignation, signed the indictment in the Eastern District of Virginia.
• Prosecutors charged violations of 18 U.S.C. §1001 and §1505, each carrying a maximum penalty of five years in prison, and filed the case just before a five-year statute-of-limitations deadline.
• Comey pleaded not guilty publicly and said in a video that he is innocent and ready for trial, while his attorney Patrick Fitzgerald vowed to fight the charges; Attorney General Pam Bondi said “no one is above the law.”
• Arraignment is set for Oct. 9 before Judge Michael S. Nachmanoff; Trump celebrated the charges online, Democrats condemned the case as political, and court papers show the grand jury declined a separate proposed count.