FBI agent relieved of duty over refusing Comey perp walk, four people familiar say

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -An FBI agent was relieved of duty for declining to arrange a “perp walk” of the bureau’s former director, James Comey, in front of news media cameras after Comey was federally charged last month, four people briefed on the matter said on Friday.

Comey was charged on September 25 with making false statements and obstructing a congressional investigation, in a dramatic escalation of President Donald Trump’s retribution campaign against his political enemies.

An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment on personnel matters.

Reuters could not immediately determine how or when senior FBI officials wanted to stage bringing Comey into the bureau’s Washington field office. Only a summons to appear in court was issued in the case, and not an arrest warrant. However, defendants will often report to an FBI field office for booking after a court summons is issued.

Comey, who has denied wrongdoing, is due to appear in court in Alexandria, Virginia, just outside Washington, on Thursday.

An attorney for Comey declined comment.

Trump fired Comey in 2017, early in his first term in office. He has since regularly assailed Comey’s handling of the FBI investigation that detailed contacts between Russians and Trump’s 2016 campaign.

Trump has threatened to imprison his political rivals since he first ran for president in 2015, but the move against Comey marks the first time his administration has succeeded in securing a grand jury indictment against one of them. Trump’s Justice Department is also investigating other antagonists, including New York Attorney General Letitia James and John Bolton, who served as a national security official in Trump’s first term.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Leslie Adler)