A great federal jury in Virginia charged with former FBI director James Comey, for two charges related to his testimony in front of the Congress, writes BBC.
A large jury is a group of citizens constituted by a prosecutor to determine if there is sufficient evidence to formulate accusations. In legal terms, it establishes whether there are good reasons to believe that an offense has been committed.
Comey, who has long attracted the criticisms of President Donald Trump, is accused of lying the Congress during his testimony of September 2020 of the authorization of the flow of classified information to the media.
The investigation is led by Lindsey Halligan, the American prosecutor for the Eastern District of Virginia, who was previously Trump's personal lawyer.
In response to the indictment, Thursday, Comey was declared innocent in a video posted on Instagram and said he has “great confidence in the federal judicial system.”
The official citation, in which the accusations will be read was scheduled for the morning of October 9, in Alexandria, Virginia, at 10:00, the local time, reports CBS, the American partner of the BBC.
The Department of Justice asked the great jury to consider three accusations against Comy, but he decided that only two of them would be supported by sufficient evidence to be tried in court.
The third accusation was false in statements.
He is the first former FBI director charged for such accusations and claimed that he did not lie under oath.
If found guilty, he could risk up to five years in prison.
A lawyer of Mr. Comey, Patrick Fitzgerald, issued an ordinance to suspend the trial, saying: “Jim Comey completely denies the accusations filed today. We look forward to proving this in the courtroom.”
In his video statement, Mr. Comy said: “My family and I have known for years that there are costs to oppose Donald Trump.”
“We will not live on our knees and you should not,” he continued, adding: “I am innocent. So let's go to the trial.”
The accusations were submitted shortly before the expiration of the five -year limitation period, which was to expire on Tuesday.
The case had recently been handed over to a new prosecutor after Erik Sebert, the initial American prosecutor who was watching the case, was fired by the Trump administration. He was replaced by Halligan.
According to the accusation documents, Mr. Comy “intentionally and consciously made a false, fictional and fraudulent statement … falsely declaring to an American senator” that he had not “authorized someone else from the FBI to be an anonymous source of news.”
Around September 30, 2020, it is shown in the document, Comy “tried to influence, obstruct and prevent the proper and correct exercise of an investigation” of the US Senate Judicial Commission through “false and deceitful statements”.
The case is considered to be the most important accusation against a public person during Trump's second term.
Trump has recently expressed frustration that the criminal prosecution of his public criticisms, such as Mr. Comey, Senator Adam Schiff and the General Prosecutor of New York, Leticia James, takes so long.
“We can no longer postpone, destroy our reputation and credibility. They have charged me twice and have charged me (5 times!), Without anything. Right must be done, now !!!,” Trump said last week.
After the accusations were filed, Trump called Comy “one of the worst human beings to which this country has ever been exposed.”
“It was so bad for our country, so long, and now it is at the beginning of the process of being held responsible for its crimes against our nation.
Asked about Mr. Comey a few hours before the indictment disclosed, Trump called “a bad person”, but said he had no advanced knowledge of his accusation.
Laurie Levenson, former federal prosecutor and law professor at Loyola Marymount University, said it will be a very difficult case to be prosecuted.
“It is often about the word of the defendant against someone else's word and you will have to analyze the credibility of both,” she told BBC News.
“And even though James Comey has wrong, that does not mean that he has lied to Congress consciously or intentionally. So demonstration will be essential.”
Mrs. Levenson also said that this criminal prosecution and public pressure exerted by Trump to continue with it suggest that the traditional barrier between the White House and the US Justice Department “has collapsed with this case.”
Several Democrats condemned the accusations, the Democratic leader in the Chamber, Hakeem Jeffries, denouncing them as “a shameful attack on the rule of law” and promising “responsibility” for “anyone is complicit to this malignant corruption.”
Jim Comey was the director of the FBI between 2013 and 2017.
He had a tumultuous mandate, which included the surveillance of the Email in the e-mail of the Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, just a few weeks before the 2016 elections, which he lost in front of Trump.
He was fired by Trump in the context of an investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 elections.
This is not the first investigation launched this year on the former FBI chief.
He was investigated by the secret services after he distributed and then deleted a post from social networks with “8647” numbers, which the Republicans claimed would be an incitement against US President Donald Trump.
Number 86 is a slang term whose definitions include “reject” or “escape from”, according to Dictionary Merriam-Webster, which also mentions that it has been used more recently as a term that means “killing”. And Trump is the 47th president of the US.
In July, the daughter of Mr. Comey, Maurene Comey, was dismissed from the position of federal prosecutor in the southern district of New York. According to the press reports, he was not offered any reason for dismissing from the position he had worked for for 10 years.
Earlier this month, she sued the Trump administration for her dismissal.
The Department of Justice fired lawyers who worked in cases that angered the president, including an investigation by the special prosecutor on Trump.
