Dallas ICE facility shooting: 1 detainee killed and 2 more injured, officials say

Federal prosecutors are nearing a decision whether to bring possible perjury charges against former FBI Director James Comey, with a legal deadline expiring on Tuesday, according to people familiar with the investigation.

The probe, run by federal prosecutors at the US Attorney’s Office for Virginia’s eastern district, is examining whether Comey made false statements during his September, 30, 2020, testimony to Congress on his handling of the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election, people familiar with the matter said. Prosecutors, under criminal law, generally would only have five years to the day to bring a charge.

If a federal grand jury were to approve the case by next week, it would mark one of the highest-profile indictments of a political figure during President Donald Trump’s second term in office – and against one of the longtime figures whom Trump and his political allies detest the most from what they call the “deep state” of the federal government.

Comey hasn’t been charged with a crime and has maintained in testimony that he’s been truthful under oath. An attorney representing Comey in the matter hasn’t responded to requests for comment from CNN.

Related article

Trump calls on Attorney General Bondi to use power of the Justice Department more aggressively

The Justice Department’s decision on bringing charges against Comey has become especially fraught in recent days after Trump fired Erik Siebert, the former US Attorney overseeing the case. Trump, in social media postings and in comments to reporters in recent days, has voiced frustrations that prosecutions of his political enemies, including of Comey, have not moved quickly enough.

Siebert had balked at bringing mortgage fraud charges against Letitia James, the New York attorney general. Trump has attacked James repeatedly since she successfully brought civil fraud charges against Trump and his company last year.

A source familiar with the matter, however, said Siebert had fewer hesitations over bringing charges in the Comey investigation.

With Siebert’s ouster and the deadline for a charge against Comey nearing, Trump this week installed Lindsey Halligan, one of his former personal lawyers, as acting US Attorney in the Alexandria-based Eastern District of Virginia. Halligan has been spotted in recent days at the Justice Department headquarters as decisions on Comey and other cases loom.

Comey also drawn scrutiny in recent months after posting on social media a photo of shells he said he saw on a beach arranged to read “86 47,” which Trump and allies claimed represented a threat to kill the president. Comey denied he intended to threaten Trump and voluntarily sat for an interview with the US Secret Service.

Recent intelligence declassification efforts