Former FBI director James Comey indicted on two charges

A FEDERAL grand jury in the US state of Virginia has formally charged former FBI Director James Comey with two offences related to his testimony to Congress, reports the BBC.

Mr Comey, who has long drawn US President Donald Trump's criticism, is accused of lying to Congress during his September 2020 testimony over whether he authorised the leak of classified information to the media.

Responding to the indictment, Mr Comey declared himself innocent and said he had "great confidence in the federal judicial system".

The indictment comes days after Trump called on the country's top law enforcement official, Attorney General Pam Bondi, to more aggressively investigate his political adversaries, including Mr Comey.

The probe is being led by Lindsey Halligan, the US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, who was previously Trump's personal lawyer and took over her new role on Monday.

Mr Comey's arraignment - where charges are formally read out in front of a defendant in court - has been set for the morning of 9 October in Alexandria, Virginia at 10:00 local time (14:00 GMT), the BBC's US partner CBS reports.

Bondi said in a statement that the indictment "reflects this Department of Justice's commitment to holding those who abuse positions of power accountable for misleading the American people".

Mr Comey has been charged with one count of making false statements and another of obstruction of justice.

The first count relates to Mr Comey telling the Senate Judiciary Committee that he had not "authorised someone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source in news reports" regarding his conversations with Trump over an FBI investigation into whether Russia meddled with the 2016 presidential election.

The second count alleges that Mr Comey "did corruptly endeavour to influence, obstruct and impede" the Senate Judiciary Committee investigation by making false statements to it.

The Justice Department asked the grand jury to consider three charges against Mr Comey, but it could only agree that two of them were backed by enough evidence to be tried in court.

The third count was another charge of making false statements.

A grand jury is a group of citizens set up by a prosecutor to determine whether there is enough evidence for charges to be filed. In legal terms, it determines whether probable cause exists to believe a crime has been committed.

Mr Comey is the first ex-FBI director to be indicted for a crime, and he maintains that he has not lied under oath.

If found guilty, he could face up to five years in prison.

A lawyer for Mr Comey, Patrick Fitzgerald, issued a short statement saying his client denied the charges, adding: "We look forward to vindicating him in the courtroom."

Mr Comey said in a separate video statement: "My family and I have known for years that there are costs to standing up to Donald Trump."

"We will not live on our knees, and you shouldn't either," he continued, adding: "And, I am innocent. So, let's have a trial."

The charges were filed shortly before the five-year statute of limitations was set to expire on Tuesday.

The case had recently been handed over to a new prosecutor after Erik Seibert, the original US attorney overseeing the case, was fired by the Trump administration. He was replaced by Ms Halligan.

According to charging documents, Mr Comey made his alleged false statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee "wilfully and knowingly", as Mr Comey had directed an unnamed person to serve as an anonymous source in news reports regarding an FBI investigation.

This meant Mr Comey "did corruptly endeavour to influence, obstruct and impede the due and proper exercise of the power of the inquiry" of the committee on around 30 September 2020, the document states.

At that 2020 congressional hearing, Mr Comey reaffirmed his 2017 testimony that he did not disclose or approve the disclosure of information about FBI investigations into either Trump or his 2016 presidential rival Hillary Clinton.

A series of memos by Mr Comey detailing his conversations with Trump were disclosed to the media in 2017.

In them, Mr Comey wrote that Trump had suggested that he drop an investigation into then-national security adviser Michael Flynn's contact with Russia.

The case is considered to be the highest-profile indictments of a public figure during Trump's second term.