Former FBI Director James Comey has been indicted by a grand jury on charges of making a false statement and obstruction of proceedings related to his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2020, the Justice Department said in a statement. statement.

“The charges alleged in this case represent a violation of the public trust on an extraordinary level,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan of the Eastern District of Virginia.

Comey, a longtime adversary of the president, is now the first senior administration official to face federal charges in one of Trump’s biggest grievances: the 2016 investigation into whether his first presidential campaign colluded with Russia, which became known as “Russiagate.”

The announcement comes just days after President Donald Trump publicly demanded his Justice Department act “immediately” to pursue prosecutions against Comey and other political rivals.

The charges follow Trump’s dismissal of U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Erik Siebert, who sources said had internally expressed hesitation about pursuing cases against Comey, as well as New York Attorney General Letitia James following his appointment as attorney general.

Trump proceeded immediately to appoint White House counsel and former defense attorney Lindsey Halligan to lead the office, even though she has no prior prosecutorial experience.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a post on X: “No one is above the law.”

“Today’s indictment reflects this Department of Justice’s commitment to holding accountable those who abuse positions of power to mislead the American people,” Bondi wrote. “We will closely monitor the events in this case,” Bondi concluded.

The charges against Comey are the most dramatic escalation yet in what critics have described as a retaliatory campaign by Trump to use the powers of the federal government to exact revenge on those he says have wronged him.