Federal Prosecutors Charge James Comey With Transmitting National Defense Information
The third criminal case against the former FBI director centers on a 2016 inquiry into a media report, a move his legal team argues is legally expired.
By Noor Phillips ·
Federal prosecutors have formally charged former FBI Director James Comey with transmitting and conspiring to transmit national defense information. The indictment marks the third criminal case brought against Comey under the administration of President Donald Trump. The case remained under judicial secrecy until October 5, 2026.
The charges stem from a New York Times article published on October 5, 2016. Written by Charlie Savage, the piece reported that Yahoo had adjusted its spam filter to aid U.S. email surveillance. Deputy U.S. Attorney General Dustin Farahnak stated in a declassified document that Comey attempted to correct erroneous information previously published by Reuters. Farahnak asserted that Comey instructed staff to contact Savage regarding specific concerns about the article's accuracy. This contact, according to the government, resulted in the illegal transmission of classified information.
Comey’s defense team filed a motion to dismiss the charges ten days ago. They argue the case has expired because the government had ten years to obtain a formal indictment from a grand jury. The lawyers contend that the document filed by prosecutors is an "information" rather than a grand jury indictment. They maintain that because the original article was published exactly ten years before the formal accusation, the statute of limitations has run. Prosecutors counter that the charges were filed within the legal deadline and that the defense is misinterpreting the applicable law.
Comey addressed the new charges in a video published on the platform Substack on Monday. He described the move as a gross abuse of the Department of Justice. "I am still innocent," Comey stated in the video. "I am not afraid of these people and I continue to believe in the independence of the federal judiciary." He added that he would not stand idly by while the department exercised this power.
The legal conflict follows a pattern of litigation involving Comey since his removal as FBI director in May 2017. Trump fired Comey after the bureau began investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The president has repeatedly called for Comey's prosecution, describing him as a corrupt cop and a sick person. The first case against Comey was dismissed by a judge after the Justice Department used a non-prosecutor to seek an indictment. The second case arose in April 2026 in North Carolina, where Comey was charged with threatening Trump by publishing a photo of seashells arranged to form the number 8647.
Patrick Fitzgerald, Comey's attorney, noted that two separate teams of prosecutors investigated the 2016 article during Trump's first term. Fitzgerald said the government determined in both instances that no charges were warranted. "Now, ten years after the publication of said article, the Government has filed an 'information' against Mr. Comey that was neither approved by a judge nor issued by a grand jury," Fitzgerald said. He added that Comey would fight the charges firmly and publicly.
