Gregory Craig, who was White House counsel under President Barack Obama, was indicted Thursday on charges of lying and hiding information related to his work for Ukraine.
Craig, a 74-year-old lawyer based in Washington, D.C., was charged by the Justice Department’s Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA, unit. Craig faces up to five years in prison for each of the two counts.
The charges stem from the federal investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election led by special counsel Robert Mueller, which came to a formal end last month.
Anticipating the DOJ’s announcement, Craig’s attorneys said in a statement to news outlets that their client’s case had already been referred to federal authorities in the Southern District of New York who did not bring charges.
“This case was thoroughly investigated by the SDNY (Southern District of New York) and that office decided not to pursue charges against Mr. Craig,” the attorneys said.
“We expect an indictment by the DC US Attorney’s Office at the request of the National Security Division. Mr. Craig is not guilty of any charge and the government’s stubborn insistence on prosecuting Mr. Craig is a misguided abuse of prosecutorial discretion.”
Craig is charged with lying about the nature of the work that his law firm was doing for the Ukrainian government during an Oct. 19, 2017, interview with the special counsel’s office.
