Grand Jury Indicts James Comey Five Days After Trump Publicly Demanded Charges

A federal grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia indicted former FBI Director James Comey on September 25, 2025 on two counts: making a false statement to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding, both arising from his September 30, 2020 Senate Judiciary Committee testimony about the FBI's Russia investigation. The case was brought by Lindsey Halligan, Trump's former personal attorney, sworn in as interim U.S. Attorney for the district three days earlier after Erik Siebert's removal. The indictment came five days after Trump publicly pressed Attorney General Pam Bondi to move against his adversaries, and five days before the five-year statute of limitations would have expired. Bondi said it reflected the department's commitment to holding those who abuse power accountable. Comey said in a video, "we will not live on our knees," and pleaded not guilty at an October 9 arraignment.

The sequence — a president demanding a prosecution in public, the removal of the prosecutor who declined to bring it, the installation of the president's own former lawyer, and an indictment within days — inverts the customary insulation between the White House and charging decisions. That insulation is a norm rather than a statute, which is why the record of how this case was assembled carries weight beyond its outcome.

On November 24, 2025, U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie dismissed the indictment without prejudice, ruling Halligan's appointment unlawful. The Justice Department appealed.