The Latest: Former FBI Director Comey indicted on charges of making a false statement, obstruction

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Former FBI Director James Comey has been charged with making a false statement and obstruction in a criminal case filed days after President Donald Trump appeared to urge his attorney general to prosecute the former FBI director and other perceived political enemies.

Prosecutors have been evaluating whether Comey lied to lawmakers during his Sept. 30, 2020, testimony related to the investigation into ties between Russia and Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

The indictment was filed as the White House has taken steps to exert influence in unprecedented ways on the operations of the Justice Department, blurring the line between law and politics for an agency where independence in prosecutorial decision-making is a foundational principle.

Earlier Thursday, Trump issued an executive order that says a proposed agreement on bringing TikTok under U.S. ownership meets key security concerns, a critical step in allowing TikTok to continue to operate in the United States.

Trump insisted that Chinese leader Xi Jinping has signed off on the agreement, telling reporters “they’re on board.”

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“If I think it’s not safe, we’re going to move it out,” Trump said in the Oval Office after being asked about World Cup host cities that oppose his immigration and crime crackdowns.

Los Angeles, Seattle and San Francisco are among the cities hosting men’s World Cup soccer matches next year.

It is unclear if Trump has the authority to change host cities.

Trump said that if his administration thinks any city “is going to be even a little bit dangerous for the World Cup,” as well as the 2026 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, “we’ll move it around a little bit. But I, I hope that’s not going to happen.”

Comey says in a video that he is innocent as he says “let’s have a trial and keep the faith.”

The former FBI director said in a video posted to Substack that he was not afraid and that he knew there would be “costs to standing up to Donald Trump.”

“My heart is broken for the Department of Justice, but I have great confidence in the federal judicial system, and I am innocent,” Comey said.

James Comey’s son-in-law resigned as a federal prosecutor minutes after the former FBI director was indicted Thursday.

Troy Edwards quit his job “to uphold my oath to the Constitution and the country,” he wrote in a one-sentence resignation letter addressed to Lindsey Halligan, the newly appointed U.S. Attorney in Virginia’s Eastern District, the office that charged Comey.

Edwards was the the deputy chief of the National Security Section, a prestigious role in a U.S. attorney’s office that covers the Pentagon and CIA headquarters, handling some of the highest-profile espionage cases.

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This item has been updated with the correct spelling of Halligan’s first name: Lindsey, not Lindsay.

“Trump has made clear that he intends to turn our justice system into a weapon for punishing and silencing his critics,” said Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committe.

Warner said after the forced ouster of the U.S. attorney in his state, the Trump administration installed a loyalist to bring the charges that others had rejected.

“This kind of interference is a dangerous abuse of power,” Warner said. “Our system depends on prosecutors making decisions based on evidence and the law, not on the personal grudges of a politician determined to settle scores.”

Ahead of a new Supreme Court term with a major 90-year-old ruling on the chopping block, Justice Clarence Thomas is defending his willingness to overturn earlier rulings when they “don’t make any sense.”

The 77-year-old Thomas, a staunch conservative and the longest serving of the justices, has also been the most willing to reconsider high court precedents. He had called for overturning Roe v. Wade for decades before the court’s 2022 decision ending the right to abortion.

In December, the court will hear arguments over Trump’s firings of leaders of independent federal agencies. The justices will consider jettisoning the 1935 case known as Humphrey’s Executor, which had protected those officials from being dismissed without cause.

“It doesn’t mean you overrule everything,” Thomas said Thursday during a Catholic University law school event, “but you don’t want it to be some talismanic thing where you turn off your brain and don’t rethink things.”

Trump says he will put import taxes of 100% on pharmaceutical drugs, 50% on kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities, 30% on upholstered furniture and 25% on heavy trucks starting on Oct. 1.

The posts on his social media site showed that Trump’s devotion to tariffs did not end with the trade frameworks and import taxes launched in August, a reflection of the president’s confidence that taxes will help to reduce the government’s budget deficit while increasing domestic manufacturing. But the additional tariffs risk intensifying inflation that is already elevated, as well as slowing economic growth, as employers getting acclimated to Trump’s previous import taxes grapple with new levels of uncertainty.

Trump said on Truth Social that the pharmaceutical tariffs would not apply to companies that are building manufacturing plants in the United States, which he defined as either “breaking ground” or being “under construction.”

▶ Read more about the new import taxes

Trump posted the comment on Truth Social moments after former FBI Director James Comey was indicted.

“One of the worst human beings this Country has ever been exposed to is James Comey, the former Corrupt Head of the FBI,” Trump said. “He has been so bad for our Country, for so long, and is now at the beginning of being held responsible for his crimes against our Nation.”

The two count indictment against Comey includes charges that Comey obstructed a congressional investigation and that he made a false statement to Congress.

Prosecutors accuse him of having lied to a Senate committee during testimony on Sept. 30, 2020 when he said he never authorized anyone inside the FBI to serve as an anonymous source to a reporter about a particular FBI investigation.

Though the indictment does not mention the investigation or its subject, it is clear from the context that prosecutors are referring to a leak related to an inquiry into Hillary Clinton, who ran for president against Trump in 2016.

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This item has been corrected to reflect that Comey was indicted related to his comments about a media leak pertaining to an FBI inquiry into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, not the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Earlier in the day, Trump was asked about a possible federal indictment of the former FBI director and he said he had “no idea what’s going to happen.”

Over the weekend, he posted on his social network Truth Social a message to Bondi in which he demanded action on investigations related to public officials including Comey, Sen. Adam Schiff and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Trump dislikes Comey because of his investigation into Russian ties to Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

The White House press secretary had explained that Trump was merely trying to demand accountability.

Attorney General Pam Bondi made the comment on social media moments after Comey was indicted on charges of making a false statement and obstruction.

“Today’s indictment reflects this Department of Justice’s commitment to holding those who abuse positions of power accountable for misleading the American people,” Bondi said on X. “We will follow the facts in this case.”

Bondi did not add any more details.

James Comey has been charged with making a false statement and obstruction in a criminal case filed days after Trump appeared to urge his attorney general to prosecute the former FBI director and other perceived political enemies.

The indictment makes Comey the first former senior government official to face prosecution in connection with one of Trump’s chief grievances: the long-concluded investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Trump and his supporters have long derided that investigation as a “hoax” and a “witch hunt” despite multiple government reviews showing Moscow interfered on behalf of the Republican’s campaign.

The criminal case is likely to deepen concerns that the Justice Department under Attorney General Pam Bondi, a Trump loyalist, is being weaponized in pursuit of investigations and now prosecutions of public figures the president regards as his political enemies.

Trump named two top Democratic donors as he alleged without evidence a vast conspiracy to finance violent protests against the government.

Trump’s executive order, signed Thursday, put the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Taskforce in the lead and said the effort would span agencies across the administration, including the Treasury, “to identify and disrupt financial networks that fund domestic terrorism and political violence.”

The pursuit of what the president said were the funders of “agitators and anarchists” is the latest instance of Trump using the power of his office to pursue his political rivals.

When pressed by a reporter to name any possible targets, he suggested two of the Democratic Party’s top donors — billionaires George Soros and Reid Hoffman.

Beijing once called the demand that TikTok be spun off from its Chinese parent company an act of “robbery,” but Chinese officials changed their tune as the U.S.-China trade war progressed.

Following the announcement of a possible TikTok framework deal after U.S.-China trade talks in Spain, some observers believed China was able to extract concessions from the U.S. on loosening trade restrictions in exchange for the TikTok deal. Others believe China was willing to do so to pave the way for a meeting between Xi and Trump.

“TikTok alone does not compare with the importance of an amicable U.S.-China relations and the positive momentum that prevents many negative developments from happening,” said Sun Yun, director of the China program at the Washington-based think tank Stimson Center.

▶ Read more about the proposed TikTok framework deal

Shehbaz Sharif, the prime minister of Pakistan, arrived at the White House for his meeting with Trump shortly before 5 p.m.

Most of the attention at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue at the time was focused on the Oval Office, where Trump was signing executive orders and answering questions from reporters.

But over at the West Executive Avenue entrance, senior administration officials were seen greeting Sharif, along with Field Marshal Asim Munir.

The recommendation algorithm — a complex system of rules and calculations the platform uses to deliver content to your feed — has been central in the security debate over TikTok.

American officials previously warned the ByteDance-created algorithm could be used by Chinese officials to shape messaging on the platform in a way that’s difficult to detect, but U.S. officials have presented no evidence to show China has attempted to do so.

Although the details remain unclear, a Trump administration official said that a licensed copy of the algorithm — retrained solely with U.S. data — will power the new U.S. version of the app. Administration officials say this retraining effort will nullify any risk of Chinese interference and influence.

That makes it unclear if the U.S. version of TikTok will be a different experience than what users in the rest of the world are used to.

Under the terms of the deal that have so far been revealed by the White House, the app will be spun off into a new U.S. joint venture owned by a consortium of American investors — including Oracle and investment firm Silver Lake Partners. ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, is expected to have a 20%, or smaller, stake in the entity.

TikTok’s new owners include many whose business or political interests are tied to Trump, including Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and Rupert Murdoch, raising questions about whether political influence will be exerted into the platform.

Much is still unknown about the proposed agreement, but Trump’s executive order says it meets key security concerns and has approval from Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

The Chinese embassy in Washington didn’t immediately respond to an AP inquiry seeking confirmation that China has signed off on the deal.

The directive also applies to Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney in the District of Columbia.

Trump spoke about his recent effort using the National Guard and federal law enforcement officers to crack down on crime in the city. He argued that Washington is a “very safe city right now” and would stay that way through full application of the death penalty.

Trump said it’s “for somebody that kills people in Washington, D.C.”

Trump says he might tap tariff revenue to bail out American farmers who are caught in the U.S.-China trade dispute.

“We’re going to take some of the tariff money — relatively small amount, but a lot for the farmers. And we’re going to help the farmers out a little bit” during this transition period, Trump said.

U.S. soybean farmers are fretting that China has not bought any U.S. beans for the new harvest season. Previously, China usually bought a quarter of all U.S. beans or more each year.

From January through July this year, American farm exports to China fell 53% compared with the same period last year. The damage was even greater in some commodities; U.S. sorghum sales to China, for instance, were down 97%.

Speaking during an Oval Office appearance, Trump said Russia’s war against Ukraine is hurting Russia, its economy — which he said is “going to hell” — and its reputation.

He said he’s “very dissatisfied with what Russia’s doing and what President Putin is doing. I haven’t liked it at all,” Trump said.

“If this were our war, we would have had it over in one week,” he claimed.

That harkens back to Trump’s campaign promises to settle the war on his first day in office.

Trump says he will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank.

“There’s been enough,” Trump, apparently referring to Israel, told reporters in the Oval Office while signing executive orders unrelated to Middle East policy. He added, “It’s time to stop now.”

Trump has long bragged about his close relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but the president has faced pressure from Arab leaders, who have publicly expressed concerns about the Israeli military acting to annex more territory.

Unlike Gaza, where Israel’s war with Hamas continues, the West Bank is governed by the Palestinian Authority.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has abruptly summoned the military’s top officers to a base in northern Virginia next week. But the vice president says that is “not particularly unusual.”

News organizations including the Associated Press reported on Hegseth’s plans earlier Thursday.

Trump, asked about it during an Oval Office appearance Thursday, didn’t seem to know about the meeting, asking for details about Hegseth’s plans.

“I’ll be there if they want me but why is that such a big deal?” Trump said.

Vance argued that the media had turned it into a “big story.”

The president in response to a question said he would make the American controlled TikTok “100% MAGA” if he felt he could, but he intends for “every philosophy, every policy” to be “treated right.”

Vice President JD Vance said the deal ensures that “American investors will actually control the algorithm” that determines the content seen on the social media app.

“We don’t want this used as a propaganda tool by any foreign government,” Vance said. “We actually want everybody to access this, whether they’re MAGA or not. We just want it to be fair. We want it to be fair to everybody.”

Republican Sen. Rand Paul says he’s thinking about making another run for the White House in 2028 but says a decision is still far off.

Paul says the GOP needs a national voice that promotes international trade and less federal spending. Paul later said he also intends to seek another Senate term in 2028.

Paul advocates for a less-intrusive government, a more restrained foreign policy and is a critic of President Donald Trump’s tariffs. Paul made his remarks Thursday in his home state of Kentucky after attending an event for U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie.

Paul ran for president in 2016 but dropped out early that year and went on to win reelection to the Senate. Paul was first elected in the tea party-driven wave of 2010 and is known for tangling with GOP leaders.

The president issued an executive order on Thursday that says a proposed agreement on bringing TikTok under U.S. ownership meets key security concerns.

That is a critical step in allowing TikTok to continue to operate in the United States.

Trump insisted that Beijing has signed off on the agreement, telling reporters “they’re on board.”

DOGE employees working across the Social Security Administration, General Services Administration and U.S. Office of Personnel Management have effectively ordered those agencies to assist with the creation of databases containing sensitive information on nearly every American “that can be manipulated with little to no oversight,” according to a new report released Thursday by Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich.

Peters, ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, conducted a series of staff visits to the federal agencies and interviewed current and former federal employees. The report says that the unsecured data collection has resulted in a possible national security risks.

“It is very likely that foreign adversaries, such as Russia, China, and Iran, who regularly attempt cyber attacks on the U.S. government and critical infrastructure, are already aware of this new DOGE cloud environment,” the report says.

A U.S. panel on ideas for a massive overhaul of the asylum system represented a wide variety of countries and organizations as advocate groups watched by with unease.

Filippo Grandi, the U.N. refugee chief, sat in the audience as Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau and the leaders of Panama, Bangladesh, Kosovo and Liberia applauded the Trump administration’s controversial approach to asylum and migration.

But Grandi, whose organization advocates for those in forced displacement, pleaded with Landau to take advantage of organizations like his as the U.S. moves forward with this shift in nearly 80 years of policy.

“The right to seek asylum, which my organization upholds, is not incompatible with sovereignty,” Grandi said when it came time for questions. He added that instead of rushing to halt asylum process, “the key is to address the root causes,” that forces people to flee in the first place.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries said Democrats “will not be intimidated” by the threats from the Trump administration to fire federal employees if the federal government shuts down.

“Get lost,” Jeffries said in a press conference at the Capitol.

Jeffries said that Democrats are ready to meet with Republicans and the president himself anytime to discuss ways to preserve health care programs as part of any deal to prevent a shutdown.

Bill Frelick, Human Rights Watch’s director of refugee and migrant rights, said the Trump administration’s proposal to U.N. member nations “looks like the first step in a bid to tear down the global refugee system.”

He faulted the proposal for not embracing a core principle of the current system that people shouldn’t be sent to countries where they face persecution.

Refugees International says the Trump administration mischaracterizes the 1951 U.N. Refugee Convention, the foundation of the global asylum system. Its principles were enshrined into U.S. law in 1980.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau outlined broad strokes of the plan Thursday, saying the current system is rife with abuse.

Nancy Larson, acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, said shooter Joshua Jahn “very likely acted alone.”

At a news conference with the FBI and other agencies, Larson said investigators found a collection of notes at Jahn’s residence near Dallas. One of them said, “Yes, it was just me.”

Other notes were sharply critical of ICE agents and indicted he had hoped to minimize collateral damage and not hurt any of the detainees.

The attack killed one detainee and critically injured two others who were in a transport van. No ICE agents or federal officers were wounded.

Larson said investigators have not found that Jahns was a member in any particular group or entity, and while he broadly wrote about hatred of the federal government, he did not mention any federal agencies other than ICE.

The gunman who opened fire on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Dallas hated the U.S. government and wanted to incite terror by killing federal agents, officials said Thursday, a day after the attack that killed a detainee and critically wounded two others.

The gunman, who fatally shot himself, also left behind a note saying that he hoped the attack would “give ICE agents real terror,” the FBI director said Thursday.

The post by Kash Patel on the social platform X offered the first hint of a motive behind the shooting on Wednesday that targeted the ICE building, including a van in a gated entryway. The detainees were in the van. No ICE personnel were wounded.

▶ Read more about ICE facility shooting

The Trump administration is pushing other nations to join the United States in cracking down on asylum claims and reinforcing domestic immigration laws.

Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau led calls to reform the global asylum system process which he and others say is riddled with fraudulent claims from people who he said should not be eligible for protections. Speaking at a US-hosted conference on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Landau said the process had become a “huge loophole” in national immigration policies.

“If you have hundreds of thousands of fake asylum seekers then what happens to the real asylum seekers?” Landau asked rhetorically. “Saying the process is susceptible to abuse is not xenophobic; it is not being a mean or bad person.”

Trump escorted Erdogan to the door of the West Wing, where Turkey’s leader got into his car and was driven away.

Erdogan spent a little over two hours at the White House. Trump told reporters they had a “good meeting” and went back inside.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has summoned the military’s top officers — hundreds of generals and admirals — to a military base in northern Virginia for a sudden meeting next week, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The directive did not offer a reason for the gathering Tuesday of senior commanders of the one-star rank or higher and their top advisers at the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia.

The people, who described the move as unusual, spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive plans.

The Pentagon’s top spokesman, Sean Parnell, confirmed that Hegseth “will be addressing his senior military leaders early next week.” The Washington Post was first to report the news of the meeting.

Across the military, there are 800 generals and admirals of all ranks and many of them command thousands of service members. Many of these officers also are stationed across the world in more than a dozen countries and time zones.

— Konstantin Toropin