Washington: Former FBI director and prominent Donald Trump critic James Comey was indicted Thursday on two criminal counts as the US president escalated a campaign of legal retribution against political foes.

The charges came days after Trump took the highly unusual step of publicly urging Attorney General Pam Bondi to take action against Comey and others he sees as enemies.

Comey was charged with making false statements and obstruction of justice in connection with the probe he conducted into whether Russia interfered in the 2016 election that Trump won and if Trump colluded with the Russians.

Trump hailed the indictment, saying Comey is "one of the worst human beings this Country has ever been exposed to."

If convicted, Comey faces up to five years in prison, according to federal prosecutor Lindsey Halligan, who was appointed by Trump just days ago. She is a former personal lawyer to the president who has no experience as a prosecutor.

"No one is above the law," Bondi said in statement as the Justice Department announced charges against Comey for committing "serious crimes."

"For far too long, previous corrupt leadership and their enablers weaponized federal law enforcement," current FBI Director Kash Patel said.

"Nowhere was this politicization of law enforcement more blatant than during the Russiagate hoax, a disgraceful chapter in history we continue to investigate and expose."

Halligan was working under intense pressure from Trump because the five-year statute of limitations on Comey's testimony to Congress that is at the heart of the case expires Tuesday.

She was appointed to the high-profile post of US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia following the resignation last week of the previous US attorney, Erik Siebert.

Siebert stepped down after reportedly telling Justice Department leaders there was insufficient evidence to charge Comey or New York Attorney General Letitia James.

James, like several other Democratic officials, has been accused by a close Trump ally, Federal Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte, of falsifying documents on mortgage applications.

Trump fired Comey in 2017 amid a probe into whether any members of the Trump campaign had colluded with Moscow to sway the 2016 presidential vote.

In August, FBI agents raided the home and office of another Trump critic -- his former national security advisor John Bolton -- in an investigation officials said was linked to classified documents.

Bolton angered Trump with the publication of a highly critical book, "The Room Where it Happened," and appears frequently on television news shows and in print to condemn the man he has called "unfit to be president."

Since taking office in January, Trump, the first convicted felon to serve in the White House, has taken a number of punitive measures against his perceived enemies and political opponents.

He has stripped former officials of their security clearances, targeted law firms involved in past cases against him and pulled federal funding from universities.

Trump was the target of several investigations after leaving the White House.

The FBI raided his Mar-a-Lago home in 2022 as part of a probe into mishandling of classified documents and Trump was charged by Special Counsel Jack Smith with plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Neither case came to trial, and Smith -- in line with a Justice Department policy of not prosecuting a sitting president -- dropped them both after Trump won the November 2024 presidential election.

"I'm not afraid,” says Comey
Indicted former FBI chief James Comey declared his innocence Thursday and said he was ready to face the criminal charges against him.

"My family and I have known for years that there are costs to standing up to Donald Trump, but we couldn't imagine living any other way," he said in a video posted to Instagram.

"I'm not afraid, and I hope you're not either," he said.

Comey's son-in-law quits Justice Department

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 Lindsay Halligan, the newly appointed acting 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. (AFP)