The US Justice Department has filed criminal charges against former FBI director James Comey, in a dramatic escalation of President Donald Trump's retribution campaign against his political enemies.
If convicted, Mr Comey could face up to five years in prison. He faces charges of making false statements and obstructing a congressional investigation.
Mr Comey, in a video posted on Instagram, said: "My heart is broken for the Department of Justice, but I have great confidence in the federal judicial system, and I'm innocent. So, let's have a trial and keep the faith."
His attorney, Patrick J Fitzgerald, said in a statement: "Jim Comey denies the charges filed today in their entirety. We look forward to vindicating him in the courtroom."
'I'm innocent,’ says Comey after indictment
Mr Trump has threatened to imprison his political rivals since he first ran for president in 2015, but Thursday's indictment marks the first time his administration has succeeded in securing a grand jury indictment against one of them.
Mr Trump's justice department is also investigating other antagonists including New York Attorney General Letitia James and John Bolton, who served as a national security official in Mr Trump's first term as president.
The charges breach decades-long norms that have sought to insulate US law enforcement from political pressures.
The federal prosecutor in Virginia who had been tasked with pursuing the case resigned last week after drawing Trump's wrath for expressing doubts about the case, and others in the office have privately said the evidence does not merit criminal charges, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Mr Trump, who has pressured Attorney General Pam Bondi to prosecute Mr Comey and other critics, celebrated the news. "JUSTICE IN AMERICA!" he wrote on social media. "He has been so bad for our country, for so long."
Mr Trump fired Mr Comey in 2017, early in his first term in office. He has since regularly assailed Mr Comey's handling of the FBI investigation that detailed contacts between Russians and Trump's 2016 campaign.
Since Mr Trump returned to office last January, his justice department has been examining Mr Comey's 2020 testimony when he addressed Republican criticisms of the Russia investigation and denied that he had authorized disclosures of sensitive information to the news media.
The indictment alleges that Mr Comey misled Congress by claiming he had not authorised anyone else to be an anonymous source in news reporting about an FBI investigation.
Mr Trump's administration has carried out a sweeping campaign to remake the justice department, which the president alleges was used as a political weapon when he left office in 2021.
Mr Trump faced federal charges of mishandling classified documents and trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat. Both cases have been dropped.
"Donald Trump has ordered the criminal prosecutions of political targets, and the Department of Justice is corruptly obeying," said Norm Eisen, a prominent former government ethics official under Democratic President Barack Obama and currently a fellow at the Brookings Institution.
"This indictment has all the hallmarks of a vindictive and meritless prosecution," he added.
