Department of Justice holds press conference after issuing second James Comey indictment

[0:03] Good afternoon. Today, a grand jury sitting in the Eastern District of North Carolina returned an indictment against James Comey on two counts. [0:18] The first count is that on or about May 15th of last year, he knowingly and willfully making a threat to take the life of and to inflict bodily harm upon the President of the United States. [0:30] Count two, same day, May 15th, 2025, that the defendant, James Comey, knowingly and willfully transmitting an interstate commerce, a communication that contained a threat to kill the President of the United States. [0:44] Both of these counts carry a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years. [0:51] So I think it's fair to say that threatening the life of anybody is dangerous and potentially a crime. [0:59] Threatening the life of the President of the United States will never be tolerated by the Department of Justice. [1:07] Over the past year, this department has charged dozens of cases involving threats against all sorts of individuals. [1:17] We take these seriously, every single one of them. [1:21] For example, just today in the Northern District of Florida, there was a guilty plea from an individual who threatened multiple political leaders, including President Trump. [1:33] In the Eastern District of North Carolina, where this case was indicted earlier today, there are multiple threats cases very similar to this one, [1:41] including one where the defendant pled guilty recently to threatening former President Biden, another one that's scheduled to go to trial this summer. [1:49] Another one indicted, an individual was indicted for threatening Tom Homan. [1:57] I say that to say that while this case is unique and this indictment stands out because of the name of the defendant, [2:05] his alleged conduct is the same kind of conduct that we will never tolerate and that we will always investigate and regularly prosecute. [2:14] I want to take a moment to thank the hardworking members of the FBI who investigated this case over the past 11 months or so, [2:24] the United States Secret Service who also assisted in this investigation, [2:28] and the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina, [2:33] led by United States Attorney Ellis Boyle, who's standing to my right. [2:37] This was an investigation that remains ongoing, that's been ongoing for about a year, [2:44] and that's all we're going to say about it today. [2:47] I will let the U.S. Attorney Boyle speak now, and then after that, Director Patel. [2:53] Thank you. [2:57] Thank you, Mr. Attorney General. [3:00] Earlier today, a grand jury in the Eastern District of North Carolina returned a true bill [3:06] indicting Mr. James Comey with committing two felonies. [3:12] Count one, he knowingly and willfully made a threat to kill and to inflict bodily harm upon the President of the United States [3:20] in violation of 18 U.S.C. 871A. [3:26] Count two, he knowingly and willfully transmitted an interstate and foreign commerce, [3:33] a communication that contained a threat to kill President Trump in violation of 18 U.S.C. 875C. [3:46] Mr. Comey will be given every form of due process all citizens are entitled to receive, [3:53] to include a trial by a jury of his peers. [3:58] In the Eastern District of North Carolina, it doesn't matter who you are, [4:02] we take all threat cases seriously and prosecute anyone who violates federal law, regardless of title or status. [4:13] Thank you. [4:18] Thank you. [4:19] As you heard from the Attorney General and the U.S. Attorney, [4:22] former FBI Director James Comey has now been indicted for two felony counts. [4:26] While many of you may read this indictment and view this matter as a simple investigation, [4:31] it is the farthest thing from that. [4:32] Every single investigation this FBI and our partners at the Department of Justice undertake, [4:37] especially those that involve the threats to harm or hurt or even kill individuals, [4:42] whether they behold public office or civilians in our country, [4:45] are met with the same measure of investigative prowess and tools and personnel [4:49] in partnership with the Department of Justice as anyone else. [4:52] As the U.S. Attorney indicated, James Comey will be afforded every matter of due process [4:56] under the United States Constitution. [4:58] And as the Attorney General indicated, this has been a case that's been investigated over the [5:02] past 9, 10, 11 months. [5:05] These cases take time. [5:07] Our investigators work methodically. [5:09] They are career agents, career prosecutors who work these matters. [5:12] They call the balls and strikes in the field as they see fit pursuant to the facts of the case [5:16] and the law. [5:18] They took that information and made a presentment to a grand jury, [5:21] a jury of appears in the district in which the alleged crime took place. [5:25] And that grand jury spoke and that grand jury returned a two-count indictment against James Comey. [5:31] James Comey allegedly threatened the life of the President of the United States. [5:36] And as you all now know, shortly after posting that threat, he deleted that threat [5:42] and then issued an apology. [5:44] All of that information was presented to the grand jury. [5:47] And Mr. Comey will have his day in court and his ability to speak to a jury of his peers. [5:53] Thank you. [5:53] Thank you. [5:56] We'll just take a couple of questions. [5:59] Mr. Attorney General, the Justice Department in this filing today also issued an arrest warrant [6:06] for Mr. Comey. [6:08] Is it your belief that he is a continued public threat? [6:12] And is there a request also for detention that you anticipate will be made in this case? [6:18] So the Department of Justice does not issue arrest warrants. [6:22] Grand juries do. [6:23] And so the grand jury returned and died in an arrest warrant. [6:26] I expect that there will be communication with Mr. Comey's counsel and we'll go from there. [6:33] This case will proceed like hundreds of others do every year. [6:37] There will be some sort of arraignment set by the judge or assigned to the magistrate judge. [6:43] And when that happens, you'll know about it. [6:46] But this is being handled differently from the last time he was indicted. [6:51] That's my reference. [6:52] In this case, the Department requested an arrest warrant, right? [6:56] Well, I don't think that it's public or clear what the Department requested. [7:01] The grand jury issued an arrest warrant. [7:03] Go ahead. [7:03] Yes. [7:04] Sir, how will you prove intent when, as the Director had acknowledged, Mr. Comey said he [7:11] did not associate 86 with doing harm and he took it down promptly, said it was political [7:16] speech, not an intent to harm the President? [7:19] Well, it's not, it's not, this case was indicted today. [7:24] This conduct occurred about a year ago, May 15th of last year. [7:28] There's been a tremendous amount of investigation. [7:30] And how do you prove intent in any case? [7:32] You prove intent with witnesses, with documents, with the defendant himself to the extent it's [7:38] appropriate. [7:39] And that's how we'll prove intent in this case. [7:41] And so I think that talking about what Mr. Comey will or will not do if there's a trial, [7:48] when there's a trial, it's not, it's very premature for me to do that today. [7:54] General Blanche, I want to ask you a quick question about, there's a number of other different [7:58] types of conduct Comey has been accused of over the past. [8:01] One of them is abuse of FISA warrants. [8:04] I wanted to ask if there's anything that we could talk about today with regards to that, [8:08] but on a separate matter, if I may ask, any more updates about the ballistics forensics [8:12] analysis with the shooting that happened over the weekend? [8:15] So on the first question, no, there's nothing else to report about any investigations or anything [8:20] involving Mr. Comey except the indictment that was returned today by the grand jury. [8:24] I don't have anything further to talk about with the ballistics that are still being analyzed. [8:30] And I said it yesterday, and every law enforcement member who is speaking on this issue is saying [8:37] the same thing as they should, which is that this is an ongoing investigation with really, [8:41] really smart experts trying to understand what happened in that shooting and where the [8:46] bullets went and ended up and where the bullets came from. And once that is at a place where [8:51] we can definitively say, to the extent we can definitively say, we will, we will let you know. [8:58] Director Comey posted this almost a year ago. Why bring this case now? Did you always feel like [9:02] this was a strong prosecution or did something change recently? [9:05] This, this investigation just didn't come now. It's the result of, of, of a lot of work by law [9:11] enforcement over the past year. We don't time when we bring when we bring cases around anything other [9:17] than when the investigation is at a place where we should go to the grand jury. And that's exactly [9:21] what we did in this case as well. As a former FBI director, you may not agree with what he did. [9:28] Should he be able to turn himself in as a former FBI director? He's not a flight risk. [9:33] I didn't say he can't turn himself in. He's not under arrest right now. And he may be a little, [9:37] I don't know whether he's under arrest right now. I'm here talking to you. The grand jury issued an [9:41] arrest warrant. I think that the way that this happens is different in every case. It's fact [9:45] intensive. It depends on who you're right, who the defendant is. It depends on whether he has [9:49] counsel. It depends on what the judge wants done. And so I don't, um, I don't know when the judge [9:55] will schedule a, an initial arraignment. Um, if that will be scheduled by the magistrate or the [9:59] district court judge, I am sure, I don't know if, if, if you want to speak to that, uh, or if it's [10:04] just something that will come up in the next coming days, you'll know when it happens. As far [10:08] as what Mr. Comey does between now and then, I'm going to leave that up to the line prosecutors in the [10:13] Eastern district of North Carolina, the FBI agents and the work that they're doing. [10:17] Can you explain why director Patel, maybe you said that it's a complicated thing. A lot of people [10:22] might think it's an easy case. Why did it take so long? I know that you guys chose to go with this [10:27] now, but to the layman, just looking at this case or lay person looking at the case, it was an [10:32] Instagram post. He apologized. Why did it take so long? Well, I'm not going to get into the details [10:37] of the investigation itself, but a lot of these cases, you could look at when the threats were made [10:42] and, and when charges are brought, they're not easy cases. And so we have to, there's a, a [10:48] communication that's sent in allegedly in this case. And so that means that we have to look at [10:52] devices. Um, Mr. Comey is a lawyer. He has lawyers. So the extent that we're looking at, at materials [10:59] that, that are potentially privileged, we have to get a wall and set up a wall and let totally [11:04] independent lawyers look at those. And so that doesn't happen overnight or quickly. And, and the [11:10] statute of limitations of this is five years. We brought it in under one year. So that that's, [11:13] that's really where we're at. It's clear that you don't want to talk specifics today, [11:18] but to the American public, can you at least give us a sense of whether you have hard evidence [11:23] or evidence that shows that Mr. Comey intended for president Trump to be harmed? And then secondarily [11:30] for critics who say, where does free speech, free speech end and an actual threat of violence [11:38] beginning? I don't know what critics say that, especially today, but it's not a very difficult [11:46] line to look at. And it's not in my mind, a difficult line for one to cross over one way [11:51] or the other. We cannot, you are not allowed to threaten the president of the United States [11:56] of America. That's not my decision. That's Congress's decision in a statute that they passed [12:01] that we charge multiple times a year. And so whether, whether there is a defense, [12:06] as you just described, maybe, maybe there is, but, but the government will have evidence. I am [12:10] not going to talk about the evidence that we have. That's unfair to him. It's unfair to the [12:15] prosecutors, but it's enough to say that the grand jury returned, returned an indictment. I'm just [12:20] taking one more question. Thank you, sir. Mary Margaret with the Daily Wire. Should we expect [12:24] more indictments of this sort? For example, in 2020, Gretchen Whitmer did a TV hit with 8645 on her desk [12:31] in the background. Is that the kind of thing you would pursue? And then just really quickly, [12:35] should Comey expect to face more charges for his role in the Russia collusion investigations? [12:41] I'm not going to comment on other investigations involving Mr. Comey. There's, he's, he had, [12:46] he was indicted in the East District of Virginia. That was dismissed on procedural grounds because of [12:50] the, the judge's finding regarding the U.S. attorney. So that case is under appeal. As far as other [12:55] investigations that are happening, it would not be appropriate or fair for me to comment [13:00] on that time. As far as other incidents of threats against the president of the United States, [13:05] those will be investigated. Every case is different. The facts are different. Who makes [13:09] the threat matters? What the threat says matters? You're, you're right. The question about intent [13:14] matters. And we have to prove that that's something that's our job. And that's something that prosecutors [13:19] will have to do in front of a jury at the right time. But you cannot compare. It's not fair to the [13:24] American people. It's not fair to the defendant. And it's certainly not fair to, to the prosecutors to [13:29] compare. Well, if you did it here, why didn't you do it there? Every, every case is different. But [13:34] there's one thing that will never be different, which is that you cannot threaten to kill the [13:38] president of the United States. Full stop. All right. Thanks a lot, guys. [13:42] Did President Trump's message to Pam Bondi.