Justice Department Files Third Federal Case Against Former FBI Director James Comey

Former FBI Director James Comey has been charged with federal crimes for the third time, according to a court filing unsealed Monday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. The filing was unsealed at Comey's request.

The new case accuses Comey of knowingly communicating information related to national defense to a person not entitled to receive it. He is also charged with conspiring with others to violate the law against sharing such information. The charging document, known as an information, 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."

Comey is seeking dismissal. A filing by his lawyers says the information concerns the "alleged disclosure of classified information" to The New York Times on Oct. 5, 2016. The lawyers told the judge that the alleged disclosure "was investigated by two separate U.S. Attorneys over the past ten years. Both declined to prosecute."

The Department of Justice filed the information on Oct. 5 and asked a judge to seal it, citing the risk that an ongoing criminal investigation would be compromised if the charges became public. Judge Trevor McFadden granted the request that day. The DOJ agreed that Comey's attorneys should be notified of the filing, and they moved to dismiss the case on Oct. 9. They argued that the 10-year statute of limitations for obtaining a grand jury indictment over events of Oct. 5, 2016, had expired. They also accused the department of filing "a faulty information under seal" to put the limitations clock on hold. On Monday, the attorneys asked McFadden to unseal the information, and he agreed.

Comey's attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald, said in a statement, as reported by The Associated Press: "For the third time in little more than one year, the Department of Justice has attempted to charge Mr. Comey with a federal crime. Mr. Comey steadfastly maintains his innocence."

In a video message on Substack, Comey said: "Well, they're back, again." He called the case an "appalling abuse of the Department of Justice, one that we cannot become numb to." He added, "I'm still innocent. I'm still not afraid of these people, and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary." He also said the next couple of years will be hard and that it is important to "keep the faith in America."

Comey has been repeatedly targeted by the Justice Department under President Donald Trump, who fired him as FBI director in 2017. The two men have been fierce critics of one another since.

Comey is also fighting an indictment in federal court in North Carolina, where he was charged in late April with threatening Trump's life. The charge stems from an Instagram post of seashells on a beach arranged to form the numbers "86 47." Prosecutors claim "86," a term often used in restaurants to mean an item is no longer available, was code for suggesting someone kill Trump, the 47th president. Comey denies wrongdoing and wants the indictment tossed.

His first indictment came in September 2025 from a federal grand jury in Virginia, on charges of making a false statement and obstruction tied to his Sept. 30, 2020, testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. A judge dismissed it on Nov. 24, 2025, ruling that Lindsey Halligan, then an interim U.S. attorney, had been invalidly appointed. The same judge dismissed an unrelated Halligan-obtained indictment against New York Attorney General Letitia James, who had been accused of bank fraud and false statements in connection with a 2020 home mortgage.

The new case emerged hours after a federal judge in New York ruled that the Justice Department unlawfully fired Comey's daughter, Maurene Comey, last year from her post as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York.