‘I am innocent’: ex-FBI chief vows to fight charges, cites cost of standing up to Trump

Former FBI Director James Comey vowed Thursday to fight a federal grand jury indictment accusing him of lying to Congress and obstructing an investigation over his 2020 Senate testimony, calling the case political retribution for standing up to President Donald Trump.

“My heart is broken for the Department of Justice. I have great confidence in the federal judicial system and I am innocent, so let’s have a trial, and keep the faith,” Comey said in a video posted on Instagram, though it was unclear when it was recorded.

Comey, fired by then-President Trump in 2017, said the indictment shows the price of opposing him.

“My family and I have known for years that there are costs for standing up to Donald Trump, but we couldn’t imagine ourselves living any other way. We will not live on our knees and you shouldn’t either,” he said.

Quoting his daughter Maurene Comey, a former federal prosecutor recently dismissed from the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, he added: “Somebody that I love dearly recently said that fear is the tool of a tyrant and she is right. But I am not afraid, and I hope you are not either. I hope instead you are engaged, you are paying attention and you will vote like your beloved country depends upon it, which it does.”

The indictment follows Trump’s repeated calls for the Justice Department to “act now” against Comey and other perceived foes.

Separately, Comey’s son-in-law Troy Edwards Jr. resigned as a national security prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia, telling colleagues in an email obtained by ABC News that he was stepping down “to uphold my oath to the Constitution and country.”