James Comey, who served as the seventh director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, grew up in Allendale, New Jersey. A quiet suburb. Far from the corridors of Washington. For TIPP Insights, it is familiar ground, part of our own backyard. During his stint from 2013 until his termination in May 2017, Comey was lionized by the press, praised as a man of rectitude.
The illusion shattered during the first Trump administration. Power corroded him. He saw himself not as a servant of the institution, but as the institution. Comey sent agents after the former National Security Adviser, General Mike Flynn, without following protocol. Later, he admitted he did it because he could. Hubris laid bare. He prioritized other considerations over adherence to the law. Today, the arc ends in a place few could have imagined. A federal indictment of James Comey.
Comey on Trump’s imprisonment
MSNBC interview with Jen Psaki
Psaki: Do you agree with that? That it would be difficult or nearly impossible for law enforcement institutions to put him in an actual jail?
Comey: “No, they would just put him in a double wide somewhere out near the fence, out in the grass, and he would eat there, he’d shower there, he’d exercise there. He’d be away, as Tonya Perry said, from the general population, but it’s obviously doable.”
Today, the man who once spoke so lightly of imprisonment faces the prospect himself.
For the first time in American history, a former FBI Director has been indicted. A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia returned charges against James Comey on two felony counts: making false statements to Congress under 18 U.S.C. §1001 and obstructing a congressional proceeding under 18 U.S.C. §1505. The allegations center on his testimony before the Senate in September 2020. The Justice Department announced the indictment on Thursday, underscoring that the rule of law applies even to those who once led the nation’s premier law-enforcement agency.
Prosecutors raced against the clock, with the five-year statute of limitations on the alleged false statements about to expire.
The case follows an unusual turnover within the U.S. attorney’s office in Virginia, along with reported dissent among career prosecutors over the evidence, fueling claims of both accountability and politicization.
The charges are not academic. Ordinary Americans have gone to prison for similar offenses. Martha Stewart served five months for lying to federal investigators. Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former lawyer, was sentenced to three years for, among other crimes, lying to Congress. George Papadopoulos, a young campaign aide, spent time in prison for making false statements to the FBI. Each case carried prison time. Those contexts make Comey’s indictment impossible to dismiss as mere politics.
The former FBI director's indictment comes at a time when public confidence in the nation’s top investigative agency is already low. For context, a recent Newsmax/TIPP Poll found that 51% of Americans believe the Bureau has become too politicized, while only a quarter disagree. The distrust runs along party lines: nearly two-thirds of Republicans (62%) hold this view, along with 41% of Democrats and 51% of independents. Against this backdrop, the Comey indictment does not arrive in a vacuum; it lands in a country where public skepticism of the FBI is already widespread, and where every move of the Justice Department will be judged through a political lens.
While some view the Comey indictment as a weaponization of justice, others would see it through the prism of accountability.
The same poll showed that there is an appetite for reform. Fifty-five percent of Americans support efforts to return the FBI to its core mission, including an overwhelming 84% of Republicans and a majority of independents (53%). Even among Democrats, nearly one-third favor reform.
Such numbers reflect a public skeptical of the Bureau’s impartiality, a sentiment that now frames the stakes of the trial itself.
Unfortunately, no outcome is likely to please the country entirely. A conviction may restore faith that no one is above the law. An acquittal, or the perception of selective prosecution, could further erode it. This trial will be more than the reckoning of one man. It will test whether the Justice Department can prosecute its own without deepening mistrust. Punishing an innocent to appease partisan sentiments, however, would set a precedent that undermines the integrity of our justice system.
Once the pride of Allendale, New Jersey, Comey now stands in disgrace. James Comey once saw himself as the institution. Today, he stands before it. The hunter has become the hunted.
Related: Trump Applauds Indictment of James Comey as ‘Justice in America’
📊 Market Mood — Friday, September 26, 2025
🟢 All Eyes on Inflation Gauge
Markets are braced for the Core PCE report, the Fed’s preferred inflation measure, to guide expectations for October and December rate cuts.
🟡 Balancing Growth and Policy
With Powell noncommittal and Fed members divided, today’s print could tilt the debate on whether easing continues or pauses.
🟣 Cautious Tone in Risk Assets
Stocks and bonds are likely to trade carefully ahead of the release, as investors position for signals on both consumer prices and policy trajectory.
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📅 Key Events Today
🟨 Friday, September 26
08:30 – Core PCE Price Index (YoY, Aug)
Fed’s preferred annual inflation gauge.
08:30 – Core PCE Price Index (MoM, Aug)
Monthly change in core consumer prices.
