Former FBI Director James Comey was indicted on Thursday by a federal grand jury in Virginia for making 1) False statements, and 2) Obstruction of a Congressional proceeding. Comey faces up to five years in prison if convicted.

Both relate to Comey's appearance at a Senate Judiciary Committee in 2020, where he offered testimony about the FBI's handling of 1) Russia’s interference in the 2016 US Presidential election, and 2) Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server.

Specifically, the charge sheet claims that Comey lied during that hearing when he said he hadn’t authorized a news leak about the FBI’s investigations. The government must prove not only that his statement was false, but also that he knew it was false when he testified. Comey responds: ”My family and I have known for years that there are costs to standing up to Donald Trump. We will not live on our knees, and you shouldn't either. I am innocent. So, let's have a trial.”

“We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility. They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!” Trump posts. Cut to his former personal lawyer Lindsey Halligan with no prosecutorial experience standing before a grand jury seeking an indictment days later. Just four days on the job to be exact, the traditional firewall between the White House and the US Department of Justice (DOJ) had collapsed.

While Comey served as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation between 2013-17, his tumultuous tenure crescendos in overseeing a high-profile inquiry into Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's use of a personal email account for government business just days before the 2016 election. An election she was projected to win and surprisingly lost to a then political outlier, Donald Trump. Historically, the DOJ lays low from prosecutions during the season to spirit free and fair elections.

Ultimately, Comey was fired by Trump over the FBI's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 elections, particularly as it implicated Trump's presidential campaign. But eight years along he shares a social media post of some seashells randomly arranged which spell the numbers “8647." The number 86 is slang for "to get rid of," while 47 could refer to Trump's 47th presidency. "Cool shell formation on my beach walk.”

But it was Comey’s deleting the post that drew criticism. He later stated he "didn't realize some folks associate those numbers with violence," adding that he opposes violence of any kind. Trump and his supporters alleged the post was a coded message calling for his assassination.

Comey called the controversy a "distraction" and maintains his actions were innocent, regretting the attention it drew. Or did he? The post coincided with the release of his much anticipated new novel "Central Park West."

Let’s not forget that as United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York it was Comey who indicted Martha Stewart on charges of securities fraud, obstruction of justice, and lying to an FBI agent. Stewart was convicted of felony charges related to the ImClone stock trading case; served five months in federal prison for fraud; and was released in March 2005. "Martha Stewart is being prosecuted not because of who she is, but because of what she did,” Comey said, and propounded upon that very theme in his first novel in 2023 which explored corporate intrigue, the cutthroat world of high finance, and the dynamics of a private life built on secrets within a company that claims to be built on honesty.

Followed by “Westport” in 2024, the series is now officially chronicling his real-life career as a U.S. Attorney. The protagonist, Norah Carlton, is inspired by Comey’s eldest daughter. So Trump terminates Maurene Comey as a prosecutor in the Southern District of New York in July 2025; Comey alleges her dismissal is politically motivated and encourages his daughter to sue; and reveals rather purposely the real inspiration of his novels to Bloomsbury:

Prior to setting pen to paper, our daughter Maurene, an Assistant US Attorney for Manhattan, was prosecuting Ghislaine Maxwell—Jeffrey Epstein’s partner in child exploitation. My wife attended the sessions in Manhattan federal court and fed me her notes.

Comey, admittedly, is not only dramatizing his own tenure as a US Attorney, but now using his own daughter’s case load to do the same. If not a roman à clef, Comey’s fictional trilogy is what Trump calls a “shameless attempt at art imitating life.” And yet that is where art and reality seem to intersect.

Comey’s third novel “FDR Drive” in 2025 opened with this salvo. “The first sign of trouble was the tremor in his voice.” Yet in his own official memoir “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership” Comey carelessly or not uses the same line. Chronicling a dinner with Trump in January 2017, Comey recalls, “The president spoke with jarring tones, awkward silences, and a tremor in his voice.”

"I need loyalty, I expect loyalty,” Trump said, regarding the investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. ”I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go." Yet it was Comey’s termination that precipitated the Mueller Investigation into any links between the Trump campaign and Russia’s election interference. After 22 months, the Mueller Report found the Trump campaign likely obstructed justice but couldn’t be charged as he was, as then, president.

In a landmark decision, “Trump v. United States” in 2024 extends a broader presumptive shield over “all of a president's official acts,” with a breathtaking “absolute immunity for official acts within an exclusive presidential authority.” The decision establishes that a former president's official acts, even if potentially illegal, cannot be used as evidence to prosecute them for unofficial acts. Moreover, the ruling expands the president's control over the DOJ. It implies that a sitting president is shielded from prosecution for attempting to influence investigations or prosecutions, including those related to themselves or their allies. The historically autonomous DOJ is now and forever the U.S. president’s personal law firm.

Perhaps why US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Erik Siebert, was fired after resisting pressure to go after Trump’s enemies. “We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility,” Trump wrote on Saturday. Enter newly christened 36-year-old US Attorney Lindsey Halligan on Monday with a 2 page, doubled spaced indictment that no line prosecutor would sign.

Still, going after Stewart, Clinton, even Trump one questions Comey’s métier into prosecuting cultural icons. Trump cheered Comey’s indictment and predicts more are coming. “There’ll be others,” Trump says, coinciding with Comey's Mysterious Press confirming a 4th installment to the Norah Carlton saga is also forthcoming.