The Latest: Former FBI Director Comey indicted; Trump predicts others will face criminal charges

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 him and other perceived political enemies.

The indictment makes Comey the first former senior government official involved in one of Trump’s chief grievances, the long-concluded investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, to face prosecution. Trump has for years derided that investigation as a “hoax” and a “witch hunt” despite multiple government reviews showing Moscow interfered on behalf of the Republican’s campaign, and has made clear his desire for retribution.

The criminal case is likely to deepen concerns that the Justice Department under the leadership of Attorney General Pam Bondi, a Trump loyalist, is being weaponized as it pursues investigations of public figures the president regards as his adversaries.

Here’s the latest:

“Democrats are here in the Capital, ready, willing and able to sit down with anyone at any time, at any place,” said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York.

Funding for the federal government runs out next week, with Congress at a standstill. Trump canceled a meeting with the Democratic leaders and the House canceled next week’s session.

“Four days away from a government shutdown and Republicans are on vacation,” Jeffries said.

“On the eve of a government shutdown, and Donald Trump is at a golf event,” he said. “It’s outrageous.”

Democrats are fighting to save health care funds that expire, threatening to skyrocket premium costs for Americans who buy insurance through the Affordable Care Act. Republicans have said the issue could be addressed later this year.

A group of 40 former national park superintendents are calling on the Trump administration to close the parks to visitors in case of a government shutdown.

Past shutdowns in which parks have remained opened have led to the vandalism of iconic symbols, destruction of wildlife habitats and possible endangerment of visitors, the superintendents said Friday in a letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.

A shutdown now could be even worse as parks are already under strain from a 24% reduction in staffand severe budget cuts, the former park officials said.

The letter was organized by the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks and the Association of National Park Rangers.

Democratic lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee say the six pages of records from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate showing that the late financier was friends with some of the most powerful and wealthiest men in the world.

The pages from Epstein’s schedule show he was in touch with prominent figures like Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Steve Bannon and Peter Thiel. There is no evidence those people knew about how Epstein was sexually abusing teenage girls.

Prince Andrew also flew with Epstein from New Jersey to Florida, according to a flight log released by the lawmakers.

The records redacted the names of victims, and the committee plans to release more once those are redacted as well.

The president took up position between the 1st tee and the 18th hole, near the bottom of the grandstand.

Four fighter jets flew over as a firefighter sang the National Anthem.

“Donald Trump!” some people chanted.

Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin at the U.N. on Friday praised the work of journalists covering the ongoing situation in Gaza, saying that the dire circumstances “cannot be justified or defended.”

“We honor the journalists that have worked tirelessly and without regard to their own safety to ensure that nobody can ever say, ‘We did not know,'” Martin said.

Martin also said that his country “stands in full solidarity” with the people of Gaza, going on to also acknowledge the efforts of medics and U.N. workers in the area.

In his own U.N. speech earlier Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu talked about “biased media” and Hamas’ “propaganda war that the Western media buys, hook, line and sinker.”

The White House has denied the allegations in a lawsuit that accuses Immigration and Customs Enforcement of illegally arresting immigrants in Washington, D.C.

“Not only are these allegations false, but they’re dangerous smears against ICE officers that are directly contributing to the dramatic increase in left-wing violence,” said Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman.

“Enforcement operations require careful planning and execution; skills far beyond the purview of a casual observer.”

She said those arrested in D.C. include MS-13 gang members and others who have been convicted of serious crimes, including murder.

“The Trump Administration will continue fulfilling our promise to the American people to deport as many criminal illegal aliens as possible.”

The president has dismissed suggestions that Comey was being charged as part of a broader retribution campaign – but Trump said there will be more.

“It’s not a list, but I think there’ll be others,” the president told reporters on Friday as he departed the White House.

Trump accused his political opponents of weaponizing the Justice Department.

Saying “I hope” others will be charged, Trump also brushed aside concerns that a future Democratic administration could use its powers to go after Trump and his allies.

“Well, that’s what they tried to do, right? They did it with me for four years, they went after me,” Trump said. He later added: “It’s about justice, it’s not revenge.”

The president says he believes the U.S. is close to achieving a deal on easing fighting in Gaza that “will get the hostages back” and “end the war.”

“I think we have maybe a deal on Gaza, very close to a deal on Gaza,” Trump told reporters on the White House lawn as he was leaving to attend the Ryder Cup.

Trump has repeatedly suggested that an agreement to calm Israel’s war with Hamas is imminent – only to have nothing to show for it.

Weeks ago, he said, “I think we’re going to have a deal on Gaza very soon.” And Trump has made similar pronouncements before and after that.

The chair of a Select House Committee on China has asked for an urgent briefing with the White House on the TikTok framework deal as supported by Trump on Thursday.

“As Chairman of the China Select Committee, I will be conducting full oversight over this agreement, starting with an urgent briefing I have requested from the Administration,” said Rep. John Moolenaar, R.-Michigan, said Friday.

While the transition of the ownership of the popular social media platform to a majority American-owned entity could mitigate some security concerns linked to TikTok, Moolenaar said: “The law also set firm guardrails that prohibit cooperation between ByteDance and any prospective TikTok successor on the all-important recommendation algorithm, as well as preclude operational ties between the new entity and ByteDance.”

ByteDance is the parent company of TikTok and is based in Beijing. Congress passed a law last year that demands TikTok to be spun off from the Chinese ownership on security grounds. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law in January.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York has sharply criticized the Trump administration over Comey’s indictment.

“The indictment of James Comey is a disgraceful attack on the rule of law,” Jeffries said late Thursday.

“Donald Trump and his sycophants in the Department of Justice are completely and totally out of control, and have viciously weaponized the criminal justice system against their perceived adversaries.”

The sparse two-count indictment – consisting of charges of making a false statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee and obstructing a congressional proceeding – appears to have nothing to do with the substance of the Russia investigation.

Instead, it accuses Comey of having lied to the committee when asked whether he had authorized anyone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source of information related to investigations into either Trump or former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Clinton. Though the indictment does not specify the subject Comey is alleged to have lied about, it appears through context to have to do with Clinton.

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.

“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.”