DOJ Charges James Comey a Third Time, Alleging He Directed a 2016 Leak of Defense Information
The Justice Department has filed a third criminal case against former FBI Director James Comey, this time accusing him of orchestrating a 2016 leak of national defense information to a reporter.
The two-count criminal information was unsealed Monday in federal court in Washington, D.C., at Comey’s own request, CNBC reported.
It charges him with willfully communicating national defense information to a person not entitled to receive it and with conspiring to do so.
The filing says Comey, “through one or more co-conspirators,” directed an unnamed individual “to disclose national defense information to a reporter for a national news publication.”
The case centers on an Oct. 5, 2016, New York Times story about a secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court order that required Yahoo to scan customer emails for messages possibly linked to a foreign terrorist organization, the Associated Press reported.
That story cited two government officials who spoke anonymously about the order, which Yahoo was barred from disclosing.
Prosecutors filed the information on Oct. 5, exactly 10 years after the article ran, and asked that it be kept under seal to protect an ongoing investigation. U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden granted the request that day.
Statute of Limitations Fight
The Justice Department said the filing was meant to preserve the case before the 10-year statute of limitations ran out.
“Filing a criminal information to toll the statute of limitations is a widely recognized practice in federal court and has been approved by multiple Circuit Courts of Appeals,” a department spokesperson told Fox News.
“This is an ongoing criminal investigation, and we will not comment further,” the spokesperson added.
Comey’s lawyers moved to dismiss the case on Oct. 9, arguing the deadline for a grand jury indictment had already passed. They accused prosecutors of filing “a faulty information under seal” to put the clock on hold.
A criminal information is usually filed with a defendant’s consent as part of a plea deal. In this case, no grand jury voted on the charges, and Comey has made clear he will fight them.
His attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald, said the alleged disclosure was investigated twice before, according to the AP. Special Counsel John Durham wrote a classified memo in December 2018 recommending no charges, Comey’s lawyers said in a court filing.
A second probe by the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, code-named “Tropical Vortex,” opened in January 2019 and closed in February 2020 without charges.
“Both times the Government determined that no charges should be brought against anyone,” Fitzgerald said.
“For the third time in little more than one year, the Department of Justice has attempted to charge Mr. Comey with a federal crime.”
Comey responded in a video posted to Substack. “Well, they’re back — again,” he said. “It would almost be funny if it weren’t such an appalling abuse of the Department of Justice, one that we cannot become numb to.”
“Nothing’s changed with me. I’m still innocent. I’m still not afraid of these people, and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary,” Comey added.
The new case follows two others. A Virginia indictment from September 2025 accused Comey of lying to Congress.
That case was dismissed in November 2025 after a judge found that prosecutor Lindsey Halligan had been invalidly appointed.
Comey is also seeking dismissal of an April indictment in North Carolina that accuses him of threatening President Donald Trump with an Instagram photo of seashells arranged to read “86 47.” He denies wrongdoing.
Trump fired Comey as FBI director in May 2017, and the two have traded attacks ever since.
The filing surfaced hours after a federal judge in New York ruled that the Justice Department unlawfully fired Comey’s daughter, Maurene Comey, as a federal prosecutor in Manhattan, NBC News noted.
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