Donald Trump has denied the indictment of former FBI director James Comey is part of a campaign of retribution against his political opponents.
The US president told reporters on Friday: “It’s about justice, it’s not about revenge. He didn’t think he’d be caught, and he got caught,” Trump said, referring to the former FBI director he fired in 2017. “He lied. He lied a lot,” the president claimed.
Trump also said he hoped “there will be others” who were prosecuted.
Comey, a former Republican appointed to lead the bureau by Barack Obama and kept on by Trump until he fired him in 2017, was indicted on Thursday on charges related to allegedly lying to Congress five years ago during a hearing on the FBI’s investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 US election.
‘Dangerous abuse of power’: lawmakers sound alarm over Comey indictment
The indictment is the latest sign that the president is making good on his promise “to turn our justice system into a weapon for punishing and silencing his critics”, said Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee.
Democratic senator Adam Schiff, a former federal prosecutor who played a lead role in Trump’s first impeachment, said on X he had “never witnessed such a blatant abuse” of the justice department, calling it “little more than an arm of the president’s retribution campaign”.
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Musk among names in latest Epstein cache released
Democratic lawmakers on Friday released documents from the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein that may show interactions between the disgraced financier and prominent conservatives including Elon Musk, Steve Bannon and Peter Thiel.
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Ice officer ‘relieved of duties’ after manhandling woman
A federal officer for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) has been “relieved of his duties” after a video showing him pushing a woman to the floor at an immigration court in New York City spread quickly on social media.
Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, sent a statement to the Guardian saying the officer’s actions were “unacceptable and beneath the men and women of Ice”. “This officer is being relieved of current duties as we conduct a full investigation,” she added.
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Immigrants without criminal records now largest group in Ice detention
Immigrants who have no criminal record are now the largest group in US immigration detention, according to data released by the government. The number of people with no criminal history arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and detained by the Trump administration has now surpassed the number of those charged with crimes.
According to the official data, 16,523 people in immigration detention with no criminal record were arrested by Ice, compared to 15,725 who do have a criminal record and 13,767 with pending criminal charges.
Separately, the superintendent of Iowa’s largest school district was detained by Ice agents on Friday, prompting shock among fellow educators.
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US refuses to support UN health declaration on noncommunicable diseases
A new vision for tackling the global noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) crisis has failed to reach consensus at the UN after the US refused to give its support, forcing member states to a vote.
After months of negotiations, the fourth political declaration on NCDs and mental health received overwhelming backing from governments at the UN general assembly on Thursday, but was rejected by the US during a speech by Robert F Kennedy Jr, the health secretary.
Republican lawmaker makes post calling for execution of Democratic congresswoman
An Arizona Republican state representative who has expressed support for January 6 insurrectionists called on Wednesday for a Democratic congresswoman to be executed, as a response to a video clip.
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Abu Dhabi royal family to take stake in TikTok US under Trump deal
The Abu Dhabi royal family is to take a stake in TikTok’s US business after Donald Trump signed an executive order brokering a deal valuing the social media company at $14bn. MGX, a fund chaired by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, will take a 15% stake and gain a board seat when TikTok US is spun out.
Trump jokingly asked Rolex executives if tariffs prompted US Open invite, CEO says
Donald Trump asked Rolex executives if he would have been invited to watch this month’s US Open final from the luxury watchmaker’s VIP box had he imposed steep tariffs on Swiss exports weeks earlier.
The US president’s remarks were made “in jest”, stressed Jean-Frederic Dufour, the Rolex CEO, in a letter to Elizabeth Warren, the US senator who had raised questions about the decision to invite Trump – including whether the conglomerate was seeking to “curry favor” with the administration.
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What else happened today:
Catching up? Here’s what happened 25 September 2025.
