Sep 16, 2025; Washington, DC, USA; Senate Judiciary Ranking Member Dick Durbin (D-IL) holds up a copy of Kash Patel’s book “Government Gangsters” as FBI Director Kash Patel testifies in front of the Senate Judiciary Commitee in Washington, D.C., on Sept.16, 2025.
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.

WASHINGTON – James Comey will be arraigned Oct. 9 in a criminal case that President Donald Trump encouraged, but the former FBI director has proclaimed his innocence and invited a trial.

Comey's indictment Sept. 25 came after Trump publicly urged the Justice Department to pursue the charges against his longtime adversary. Trump 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 persuaded a federal grand jury to advance three federal criminal counts against Comey, 64, Comey on charges of lying to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding.

Here’s what to know about the case:

Trump expects more prosecutions of Democrats, rivals

President Trump told reporters as he left the White House on Sept. 26 to attend the Ryder Cup golf match in New York that he expected more prosecutions of Democrats and political rivals because “they’re corrupt.”

“It's not a list, but I think there'll be others,” Trump said.

The president also argued that the Justice Department under former President Joe Biden was “weaponized” against him. “What they’ve done is terrible,” he said. "I hope there are others, because you can't let this happen to a country.”

Biden has said he was not involved in the prosecution of two federal cases against Trump, which were dropped when he won the White House again. Former Attorney General Merrick Garland has said prosecutors followed the facts and the law. Trump had been charged with attempting to steal the 2020 presidential election and retaining national defense documents at his Florida resort after his first term.

Trump said Democrats hounded him during his first term and then spent four years between his terms as president investigating him.

“It's about justice,” Trump said of the Comey said. “Really, it's not revenge. It's also about the fact that you can't let this go on. They are sick, radical left people, and they can't get away with it.”

Top Democrat calls DOJ ‘political tool of a vengeful president’

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said the Justice Department has become “a political tool of a vengeful president.”

“President Trump wears his corruption like a badge of honor and defies anyone daring to challenge him,” Durbin said. “The Attorney General willingly complies with every order from the White House.”

Trump calls Comey charges 'justice,' not 'revenge'

Trump told reporters as he was leaving the White House on Sept. 26 that the charges against Comey were justified rather than for retribution.

"This is about justice, not about revenge,” Trump said.

The president, who has urged charges against others, such as Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James and Sen. Adam Schiff, D-California, said he anticipates more prosecutions.

"I hope there will be others” charged, Trump said.

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.

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.

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?

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?

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?

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.

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.”

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 former FBI Director James Comey: Live updates

Reporting by Bart Jansen, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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