Former FBI Director James Comey could face criminal charges within days as the Department of Justice weighs whether to seek an indictment before the clock runs out on a possible perjury case tied to his 2020 congressional testimony.
Federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia are preparing to ask a grand jury to indict Comey as early as this week, sources told MSNBC on Wednesday, with the statute of limitations on the alleged offense set to expire Tuesday, five years after his testimony to Congress prompted allegations by Republicans that he lied under oath.
The reported push comes just days after President Donald Trump ousted U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert and replaced him with longtime Trump aide Lindsey Halligan, who was sworn in Monday despite having no prior prosecutorial experience. Halligan now controls one of the most politically charged cases in the country and is under pressure from the White House to act swiftly.
ABC News reported this week that career prosecutors in the department had previously recommended against bringing charges, concluding after a lengthy investigation that Comey’s 2020 testimony, while possibly inconsistent with other accounts, could not be proven false beyond a reasonable doubt.
Comey’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 30, 2020, has emerged as the key flashpoint. During that hearing, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) pressed Comey on whether he had ever authorized leaks to the media about the FBI’s investigations into Trump or Hillary Clinton.
“I stand by the testimony you summarized that I gave in May of 2017,” Comey told Cruz. Asked whether former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was “not telling the truth” when he claimed otherwise, Comey replied, “I’m not going to characterize Andy’s testimony, but mine is the same today.”
The Justice Department’s internal watchdog later found McCabe’s version of events lacked candor and that the “overwhelming weight of the evidence supported Comey’s version.” That could complicate any attempt by Halligan to present Comey’s testimony as knowingly false.
Other potential angles, such as whether Comey misrepresented his awareness of intelligence related to the 2016 Clinton campaign, could also be on the table.
In one exchange with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Comey said he didn’t recall a specific 2016 CIA referral about Clinton allegedly approving a Trump-Russia smear effort. But the Durham report records suggest Comey had already been briefed months earlier on the broader issue, undercutting the idea that his response constituted perjury.
Trump has long promised retribution against Comey and others involved in the FBI’s handling of the 2016 Russia investigation. Over the weekend, he called for charges against Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA).
His statement to Truth Social also directly called upon Attorney General Pam Bondi to bring on charges against James and Comey, referencing that he had been impeached multiple times “OVER NOTHING!”
TRUMP ALLY ASSUMES VIRGINIA PROSECUTOR POST AFTER LETITIA JAMES CASE SCUFFLE
“JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED NOW!!!” Trump wrote. He also cited unspecified “statements and posts” he’d read contending that the trio are “‘guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done.’”
For now, Halligan faces a tight legal deadline amid the president’s ever-present demand to secure an indictment before the clock runs out.
