Phrase of former FBI Director James Comey’s federal indictment despatched anger and shockwaves round Congress, with a number of distinguished Democrats sounding off on what they known as a politically motivated assault by President Donald Trump’s Justice Division.
Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy known as Comey’s indictment — which was on fees of constructing a false assertion and obstruction associated to his testimony earlier than the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2020 — a “constitutional disaster.”
Chris Murphy speaks throughout the 2025 Concordia Annual Summit on September 24, 2025 in New York Metropolis.
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“We aren’t on a slippery slope to a constitutional disaster. We’re IN the disaster. Time for leaders – political leaders, enterprise leaders, civic leaders – to select a facet: democracy or autocracy?” he wrote on X Thursday evening.
Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin pointed to the latest resignation of U.S. Lawyer Erik Siebert and appointment of Lindsey Halligan as setting the stage for Comey’s indictment. Siebert, Trump’s earlier nominee for the U.S. lawyer for the Jap District of Virginia, resigned from the workplace after sources stated he refused to carry fees towards New York Lawyer Basic Letitia James over unfounded allegations of mortgage fraud. Trump later claimed he “fired” Siebert and rapidly put in Halligan into the place.
“As if by magic, inside mere days of being appointed, Ms. Halligan delivered for the president by submitting the precise baseless fees towards Mr. Comey that her predecessor had rejected,” Raskin stated in a press release.
“I’ve little doubt {that a} jury of his friends will acquit and vindicate Mr. Comey after being afforded the chance to listen to all of the related proof,” he added.
Hakeem Jeffries meets with reporters on the Capitol in Washington, Sept. 25, 2025.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries launched a press release Thursday evening calling the indictment a “disgraceful assault on the rule of legislation.”
“The malicious prosecution towards James Comey has no obvious foundation in legislation or reality, and attorneys of fine conscience within the division realize it,” he stated.
Democratic Sen. Peter Welch known as Comey’s indictment a “new low.”
“President Trump and his Justice Division’s indictment of James Comey is a brand new low for our democracy. The rationale for the indictment is obvious: Comey is Trump’s political adversary,” Welch wrote on X.
Republicans had been extra subdued of their preliminary response to the indictment.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, appeared to hunt extra particulars and let the authorized course of play out.
“On the time of Comey’s alleged false statements and obstruction, my colleagues and I had energetic investigations. If the info and the proof help the discovering that Comey lied to Congress and obstructed our work, he should be held accountable,” he stated in a press release.
Just a few Republicans, nonetheless, praised the Justice Division.
Eric Schmitt questions FBI Director Kash Patel throughout a Senate Judiciary Committee listening to on “Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation” on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on September 16, 2025.
Jim Watson/AFP through Getty Pictures
“As I stated final month, it is time to expose the lies and corruption from folks like James Comey,” Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt stated in a publish on X.
John Cornyn speaks at a information convention following a Senate coverage luncheon on the U.S. Capitol on September 09, 2025 in Washington, DC.
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Republican Sen. John Coryn famous that whereas the “authorized system gives for the presumption of innocence, Comey’s accountability for FBI abuses throughout the first Trump time period are lengthy overdue.”
“These fees are severe offenses, particularly if dedicated by the top of our nation’s prime legislation enforcement company, and there should be penalties for any crimes,” he stated in a press release.
