Former FBI Director James Comey said Thursday is heart was “broken” for the Department of Justice after he was indicted on two counts by the Trump Justice Department, but professed his innocence and said he was unafraid.
Comey responded to news of his own indictment in a short video posted to Instagram.
“My family and I have known for years there are costs to standing up to Donald Trump. But we couldn’t imagine ourselves living any other way. We will not live on our knees, and you shouldn’t either,” Comey said.
“Somebody that I love dearly recently said that fear is the tool of a tyrant. And she’s right,” Comey continued, quoting what his daughter said after she was fired as a federal prosecutor in July.
“But I’m not afraid, and I hope you’re not either. I hope instead you are engaged. You are paying attention, and you will vote like your beloved country depends upon it, which it does,” Comey added.
“My heart is broken for the Department of Justice, but I have great confidence in the federal judicial system,” he said. “And I’m innocent. So, let’s have a trial. And keep the faith.”
A federal grand jury indicted Comey on charges of making a false statement as well as another for obstruction of a congressional proceeding in connection with testimony he gave before the Senate in 2020.
The indictment makes Comey the first of President Trump’s many perceived political enemies to face charges.
Trump has long called for charges against Comey, whom he blames for the investigation into his campaign’s ties to Russia in the 2016 election — something he has deemed a “witch hunt.” Last Saturday, Trump appeared to explicitly pressure his attorney general to pursue a case against Comey and other opponents.
Trump fired Comey as FBI director in 2017 while the bureau’s investigation was still ongoing, leading to the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller. Trump and Comey have had an adversarial relationship ever since, with Trump decrying Comey as a “dirty cop,” among other insults.
Comey, who earned the ire of Democrats in 2016 with his handling of an investigation into then-presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s email server, endorsed former President Biden in the 2020 election and backed former Vice President Harris in the 2024 race against Trump.
Thursday’s indictment quickly set off alarm bells among Democrats and other Trump critics who slammed the move as a politically motivated effort to go after the president’s enemies.
