Former FBI Director James Comey Faces Potential Perjury Charges

"...one of the longtime figures whom Trump and his political allies detest the most from what they call the "deep state" of the federal government..."

"...Trump, in social media postings and in comments to reporters in recent days, has voiced frustrations that prosecutions of his political enemies, including of Comey, have not moved quickly enough..."

"...Comey also drawn scrutiny in recent months after posting on social media a photo of shells he said he saw on a beach arranged to read "86 47," which Trump and allies claimed represented a threat to kill the president..."

"...Comey denied he intended to threaten Trump and voluntarily sat for an interview with the US Secret Service..."

"...The former director initially drew Trump’s ire after his handling of the investigation into ties between suspected Russian operatives and Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign..."

"...Trump quickly fired Comey – an unprecedented move at the time – early in his first term..."

"...Since then, Comey has been a figure of virulent criticism from Republicans, not only for his handling of the Russia investigation but also in how he publicly announced and handled a separate investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server during her stint as Secretary of State..."

"...In the short period during which he served as FBI director under Trump, Comey took memos documenting meetings he had with Trump – memos he retained and that later were leaked to the press..."

"...That same year, in 2017, Comey testified during a Senate hearing that he had sent documents to Columbia University law school professor Daniel Richman, a friend of his, instructing Richman to share the information with a reporter..."

"...Two years later, a report from the DOJ’s inspector general found that Comey violated agency policies when he leaked information from the memos..."

"...While the memos themselves contained classified information, the IG did not find evidence that Comey leaked any classified information from the memos..."

"...At the time of the report, Trump tweeted that "perhaps never in the history of our Country has someone been more thoroughly disgraced and excoriated than James Comey in the just released Inspector General’s Report. He should be ashamed of himself!"..."

"...During his 2020 Senate Judiciary testimony, Comey testified that he stood by previous statements he made under oath to Congress that he hadn’t leaked to the media or authorized others at the FBI to leak to the media..."