What to know about charges against former FBI Director James Comey: Live updates Bart Jansen, USA TODAY September 26, 2025 at 9:36 PM 0 WASHINGTON – James Comey will be arraigned Oct.
- - What to know about charges against former FBI Director James Comey: Live updates
Bart Jansen, USA TODAY September 26, 2025 at 9:36 PM
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WASHINGTON – James Comey will be arraigned Oct. 9 in a criminal case that President Donald Trump encouraged, but the former FBI director has already proclaimed his innocence and invited a trial.
Comey's indictment on Sept. 25 came after Trump publicly urged the Justice Department to pursue the charges against his longtime adversary. Trump had already fired Comey early during his first term and complained that his FBI investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election was a "hoax" and a "witch hunt."
Trump's DOJ convinced a federal grand jury to advance three federal criminal counts against the 64-year-old Comey for allegedly lying to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding. Here's what to know about the case:
1 / 20Former FBI director James Comey indicted on two countsInvestigative Journalist Richard Esposito and Author James Comey, former FBI Director, speak at the Barnes & Noble Upper West Side on May 19, 2025 in New York City. Comey sat with Esposito to discuss his career and new book "FDR DRIVE," the third of a series of fictional crime novels featuring attorney Nora Carleton.When is Comey's arraignment?
U.S. District Judge Michael Nachmanoff in Eastern Virginia set Comey's arraignment for Oct. 9 at 10 a.m.But Comey already posted on social media that he is innocent and he invited a trial.
"I'm innocent, so let's have a trial and keep the faith my family and I have known for years," Comey said in a Sept. 25 post.
James Comey, former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), is seen in a frame grab from a video feed as he is sworn in remotely from his home during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing exploring the FBI's investigation of the 2016 Trump campaign and Russian election interference in Washington, U.S., September 30, 2020.What are the charges?
The indictment relates to Comey's testimony Sept. 30, 2020, to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Prosecutors allege that Comey falsely said that day that he hadn't "authorized someone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source in news reports" in the Wall Street Journal about an investigation of Hillary Clinton.
A photograph of U.S President Donald Trump is lit up at the entranceway of Justin W. Williams United States Attorney's building, adjacent to U.S. District Court, on the day U.S. attorney are expected to ask jury to indict former FBI Director James Comey, in Alexandria, Virginia, U.S., September 25, 2025.
The Justice Department's inspector general previously reviewed the allegations and in 2018 found Andrew McCabe, the former FBI deputy director, "lacked candor" in his statements about the leak.
When is the trial?
Members of the press work outside the Albert V. Bryan United States Courthouse, following the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey, in Alexandria, Virginia, U.S., September 26, 2025.
The case is still in its earliest stages and Nachmanoff, a 2021 appointee of President Joe Biden, hasn't set a trial date yet.
Before summoning a jury, prosecutors will have to share evidence they gathered with Comey's defense lawyers. Comey could argue that the charges should be dismissed without a trial.
What has Trump said about Comey's indictment?
In this Jan. 22, 2017, file photo, President Trump shakes hands with James Comey during an Inaugural Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders Reception in the Blue Room of the White House.
Trump responded to the indictment with a pair of social media posts that said Comey lied and that he is "a Dirty Cop."
"JAMES COMEY IS A DIRTY COP," Trump said in one post Sept. 25.
"There is no way he can explain his way out of it," Trump said in another post. "He is a Dirty Cop, and always has been... He just got unexpectedly caught."
Did Trump's Justice Department probe the Russia investigation already?
John Durham testifies in front of the House Judiciary Committee about the origins and justifications of the FBI Crossfire Hurricane investigation against then-presidential candidate Donald Trump on June 21, 2023. In a report released in May, Durham has sharply criticized the Department of Justice and FBI for the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election in his final report but said no policy changes were needed after the agencies overhauled their counterintelligence surveillance programs.
The FBI investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election has already been the subject of a scathing inspector general's review and of a special counsel's investigation.
But the FBI leadership turned over and adopted policy changes before special counsel John Durham's investigation was completed in 2022. Durham charged three people in his investigation.
Kevin Clinesmith, a former FBI lawyer, pleaded guilty to falsifying an email used to justify the surveillance of Carter Page, a Trump campaign adviser. Clinesmith was given probation.
Michael Sussmann was acquitted in May 2022 of lying to the FBI.
Igor Danchenko was acquitted in October 2022 of five counts of lying to investigators.
Durham sharply criticized the Justice Department and the FBI but said no further policy changes were needed at that point. That left Republicans to hammer away at flaws in FBI conduct and Democrats to argue that the agency was obligated to investigate.
Former national security advisor John Bolton speaks during his lecture at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, on Feb. 17, 2020.Who else is Trump targeting for criminal prosecution?
Trump had urged Attorney General Pam Bondi to charge Comey "NOW!!!" and voiced disappointment with a previous prosecutor who failed to secure an indictment.
The Comey prosecution raised concerns among Democrats and civil libertarians that Trump would wield the Justice Department against other political targets. John Bolton, Trump's former national security adviser, has been charged with unlawfully retaining classified documents after leaving office.
The potential targets include Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James, who secured a $454 million judgment against Trump before it was overturned on appeal.
Trump has his sites set on Sen. Adam Schiff, D-California, who led the first House impeachment against Trump over his dealings with Ukraine.
Another potential target is former President Barack Obama, whom Trump accused of treason for the Russia investigation. Obama called it a "weak attempt at distraction."
Billionaire hedge fund manager George Soros speaks during a discussion at the Clinton Global Initiative's annual meeting in New York, Sept. 27, 2015.
Prosecutors are looking into Democratic donor George Soros, whose Open Societies Foundation for alleged terrorism and racketeering. The organization denied any criminal activity.
Others under investigation include former CIA Director John Brennan over the Russia inquiry and Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook for alleged mortgage fraud. Both have denied wrongdoing.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What to know about charges against ex-FBI Director James Comey: Live
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