WASHINGTON (AP) – Former FBI director James Comey has been charged with just two pages. He claims he falsely testified to Congress in 2020. About allowing someone to be an anonymous source for news articles.
Its brevity believes in a complex and controversial backstory. The events at the heart of conflicting testimony are one of the most scrutinized in the Bureau’s history, producing internal and parliamentary investigations that have produced thousands of pages of records and transcripts.
These studies focused on how to do that Comey And his agents conducted a high stakes investigation into whether Russia was supporting Republican Donald Trump’s campaign in the 2016 presidential election with Democrat Hillary Clinton, and whether she was helping to use private email servers while she was Secretary of State.
Here’s what you need to know about that period and how they fit in Comey’s prosecution:
What is the claim?
The indictment alleges The Comey made a false statement in his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The single quote from the indictment appears to be due to an interaction with Sen. Ted Cruz of R-Texas.
Prosecutors argue Comey lied when he refused to allow anyone in the FBI to be an anonymous source of media. In fact, the prosecutor claims he did exactly that by saying to someone identified as ‘person 3’ in the accusation.
“It’s a very naked bone indictment,” he said. Solomon Wysenberga former federal prosecutor and is currently a private practice defense attorney. “I don’t know what the evidence will be.”
What did Comey say to Congress?
Wisenberg said testimony in question appeared to have occurred when Cruz was looming on the role that his assistant director, Andy McCabe, played in approving the leak for a story that examined how the FBI handled the investigation. Using a Private Mail Server with Clinton When she was Secretary of State.
Cruz’s questions were complicated, but it was summed up in catching Comey against McCabe. The senator said Comey told Congress in 2017 that he had no approval from anyone to speak to reporters. However, Cruz claimed that McCabe “has been saying “publicly and repeatedly that he leaked information to the Wall Street Journal, and that you were directly aware of it and that you admitted it directly.”
“Who is telling the truth?” Cruz asked.
Comey replied: “I supported the testimony summarizing what you gave in May 2017.”
At the time, Comey was on the spot by Senator Charles Grassley of R-Iowa. Comey was asked if he had “allowed anyone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source of news reports about Trump’s investigation or Clinton’s investigation.”
Comey replied “No.”
According to the indictment, Comey “didn’t admit that other people in the FBI are anonymous sources of news reports,” but Comey appears to have not used that exact phrase during the 2020 hearing in question, which could complicate his efforts to establish that he made a false statement.
What sparked the question?
“Person 3” has not been identified in the indictment, but it appears to be discussing an investigation relating to Clinton. Comey was thought of in several inquiries about alleged leaks in Clinton’s investigation, all of which created a wide-ranging paper path.
One involved McCabe and Journal Stories. McCavey told Department of Justice inspectors that he allowed his subordinates to speak to journal reporters, and told Comey about the interaction after the facts.
It’s unlikely that McCabe will focus on that episode, as McCabe never told investigators that Comey allowed him to talk to the media. The FBI Director is all that McCabe knew that.
The other two leak investigations involved a friend of Comey, who had been working for a while as the director’s paid government advisor. That advisor, Daniel Richmantold investigators he would talk to the media and help shape the perception of the struggling FBI chief.
Richman, a law professor at Columbia University, was interviewed by FBI agents in 2019 about leaks to media related to Clinton’s investigation. Richman never admitted to him that Comey would talk to the media about Clinton’s investigation, but admitted that Comey is aware that he sometimes works with reporters.
Comey admits to using Richman as a conduit to the media on another issue. After Comey was fired by Trump in 2017, he gave Richman a memo detailing his interactions with the president. Comey later testified to Congress that he allowed Richman to disclose the notes to journalists, hoping to facilitate the appointment of special advisors who might investigate Trump.
How did you get here?
Trump and Comey are engaged Long-term feud. Trump accused Comey of launching an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 campaign that led to the appointment of special advisor Robert Mueller. Mueller spent most of the two years investigating whether Trump’s campaign would conspire with the Kremlin to help him beat the White House.
Ultimately, Mueller did not reveal any evidence that Trump or his companions had criminally conspiring with Russia, but found that they welcomed Moscow’s assistance. Trump has long spoken about “Russian hoaxes” and has hidden and defined the early days of his first term.
Trump has beaten Comey for years to come, saying he is worthy of being charged with treason.
A few days before the charges, Trump publicly urged Attorney General Pam Bondy to act against Comey and two other perceived Trump enemies. Trump posted on social media last week. “Justice must be provided now.”
Within hours of the charges being returned, Trump once again relied on social media to glo.
Comey criticised Trump for many issues and has barely setbacked. In his 2018 memoir, “Higher Loyalty,” Comey compared Trump to the Mafia Don, saying he was unethical and “opposed to the truth.”
Like Trump, Comey took him to social media after his indictment.
“My family and I know there’s a cost to stand up to Donald Trump for years,” he said. “My heart is broken for the Department of Justice, but I have great confidence in the federal justice system. I am innocent. So let’s get a trial.”
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Associated Press Writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report.
