James Comey Indictment Imminent

Ever since he was fired as FBI Director by President Trump, James Comey has done lucrative book deals, became the subject of a TV movie based on his brief time running the bureau under President Trump, and now he may soon have formal charges filed against him by the DOJ for perjury as well.

The indictment stems from testimony he gave to Congress regarding the Russia hoax and the 2016 presidential election. Did Comey lie to Congress about President Donald Trump? Should he be held accountable for the role he played in the Russiagate hoax? One thing is certain: If Comey’s movie ever gets a sequel, this will make for an interesting plot twist.

A grand jury has reportedly been impaneled in the Eastern District of Virginia to consider allegations that Comey lied to Congress. That’s a serious charge because testimony to Congress is given under oath – and prosecutors say the statute of limitations for any alleged false statements is about to run out. That’s why everyone is watching the calendar: If the DOJ wants an indictment for those allegations, it must move fast.

That means the official indictment could come down any moment. But it’s also important to remember an indictment isn’t a conviction, and if it is to be a perjury case, it could be hard to prove beyond a reasonable doubt.

My dad, ACLJ Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow, joined us on the broadcast and shared his reaction to the announcement and the significance of charging Comey:

Of course, we were involved in this as lawyers for President Trump back when all of this was going on. This stems from . . .  from testimony given before the United States Congress, where Ted Cruz has pointed this out very well, that James Comey, when asked about this leaking of information, did not give a forthright answer – at least that’s going to be the allegation. In other words, he did not tell the truth. He lied.

It involved a situation where an individual who was a law professor received notes from James Comey after a conversation with the President of the United States. That law professor then leaked it to the press. James Comey asked about the leak, said, I didn’t leak anything to the press, and even more specifically, Andrew McCabe, whom I am no fan of, went before Congress and gave totally contradictory testimony, and I don’t know if you all remember this: They were arguing with each other via then Twitter, now X, about who was telling the truth. I mean, there were these texts going back and forth, and this is a culmination of the unprofessional conduct, the illegal conduct in my view, that James Comey engaged in as he was trying to basically, in a sense, blackmail the President. And that’s a strong word to use, but I want to put it in a real context here.

Remember, it was James Comey and Clapper and these others who went to the then-President-elect in early 2017 before he was sworn in and went through that whole situation with the Steele dossier and the allegations. So James Comey also said three times in writing, well, and to the President actually, that he was not under investigation, when in fact they already had opened up Crossfire Hurricane, and he was under investigation. So this is the guy who also, in the Hillary Clinton campaign, interfered with an election by saying she was first exonerated, then not exonerated, and reopened again, and you just can’t do that as the FBI Director. He jumped over the Attorney General, who is his boss, when he made these statements.

My dad also shared what he expects to see happen next in this process:

So this is, in fact, a long-overdue process. Now overdue being by Tuesday, the statute of limitations on bringing the Congress allegation, if in fact that becomes the allegation or one of them, was to expire on Tuesday. So, the grand jury is impaneled on Thursday. . . . That’s what’s happening now. And a lot of people expect a returning indictment, sometime later today, or maybe it will be unsealed early next week. . . .

Once a grand jury, if in fact that's what is called, finds enough evidence to charge, that is then taken to the judge and the indictment is issued. James Comey would be arrested and processed. He probably would turn himself in voluntarily, I suspect, and then the court proceedings start, so that’s how it moves. It’ll be handled by the United States Department of Justice, the Eastern District of Virginia, appears where this indictment’s coming at them, and they have an acting U.S. attorney who would be in charge of the case through the criminal division of their office, but it also may have main DOJ people involved as well. . . . James Comey will be entitled to counsel, and his lawyer will file motions to dismiss and motions to reduce the indictment. There’ll be a whole series of legal work that goes in before trial, but you could see, I think it’s possible that you could see a trial in the next 18 months.

Whatever happens from here, this feels like a big update to a story that we’ve all been waiting on for a long time, and almost gave up on. The Deep State must be exposed. The bad actors must be held accountable for their behavior. We will continue to watch closely as events unfold.

And of course, here at the ACLJ, we have an ongoing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) case involving reports that Comey orchestrated a covert operation against President Trump by embedding FBI operatives inside the White House. Their mission was to secretly gather intelligence on the President and his Administration and funnel it back to Comey’s office. We’ve filed to uncover exactly how this scheme was carried out, why it happened, and what information was shared.

Today’s Sekulow broadcast included more reaction to the news that James Comey may be indicted. We also discussed the latest in the Letitia James mortgage fraud probe after the DOJ confirmed it is moving forward. 

Watch the full broadcast below: