The former FBI director has been indicted : a grand jury has approved two counts of indictment against him, one for making false statements and the other for obstruction of justice . After pressuring his Attorney General to take action against his enemies, Donald Trump is celebrating the indictment: "Justice in America," he wrote on his social media account, Truth, calling James Comey one of the worst people the United States has ever faced.

Comey is high on Trump's blacklist: he was the one who investigated Russiagate, which the president deemed a "witch hunt," one of the biggest hoaxes in history. In 2017, the tycoon abruptly fired Comey from his FBI post, first blaming his handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server, and then admitting that he had fired him for the investigation into his possible collusion with Russia.

At the heart of the indictment is Comey's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 30, 2020 , during which he was accused of lying about authorizing the release of sensitive information. Comey has always maintained his innocence. And shortly after the official indictment, he reiterated this in a video posted to Instagram. "I'm not afraid. I'm innocent: I have faith in the federal justice system," he said. The indictment is brief and signed only by prosecutor Lindsay Halligan, Trump's former insurance lawyer who has been in the position for only three days .

Observers say the lack of additional signatures, as well as the fact that Halligan presented the case directly to the grand jury, seem to indicate that no one within the prosecutor's office wanted to take on such a controversial move .

Comey's indictment created considerable tension within the Justice Department. Secretary Pam Bondi was skeptical of the case and tried to halt it, according to reports . Bondi and her deputy, Trump's former lawyer Todd Blanche, had also tried to convince Trump not to remove Erik Siebert, the former Virginia prosecutor whom Halligan replaced. Their efforts, however, were in vain: the president, "blinded by a desire for revenge," as critics described him, decided to proceed at any cost.