Justice Department Charges James Comey a Third Time in 2016 Leak Case
Federal prosecutors unsealed a two-count case Monday accusing the former FBI director of sharing national defense information in 2016. Comey denied wrongdoing and said he would fight the charges.
The Justice Department charged former FBI Director James Comey for a third time on Monday. Federal prosecutors unsealed a two-count case that accuses him of sharing national defense information in 2016.
The charges were filed as a criminal information in federal court in Washington. Prosecutors charged Comey with transmitting national defense information and with conspiring to transmit it. The case had been filed under seal on Oct. 5 and was made public on Monday.
Prosecutors say the case centers on an Oct. 5, 2016, article in The New York Times about email surveillance. The filing says Comey directed staff to speak with the article's reporter, Charlie Savage, about accuracy concerns tied to a Reuters report published the day before. Prosecutors say that disclosure transferred classified information.
Comey denied wrongdoing in a video posted Monday. He said he was innocent and not afraid, and he called the case an abuse of the Justice Department. His lawyers have asked a judge to dismiss the case. They argue the charges rest on a disclosure from exactly 10 years before the Oct. 5 filing, and that prosecutors needed a grand jury indictment within that period rather than a criminal information.
The Justice Department said it filed a waiverless criminal information to toll the statute of limitations while it seeks a grand jury indictment. A department spokeswoman said the filing is a widely recognized practice and that the department would not comment further because the investigation is ongoing. Comey has not been indicted in this matter.
It is the third federal case against Comey in President Donald Trump's second term. An earlier case charging him with making false statements to Congress was dismissed. A separate case in North Carolina, tied to a social media post, is still pending.
Comey served as FBI director from 2013 until Trump fired him in May 2017. The firing came while the FBI was investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election.
The new charges surfaced on the same day a federal judge ruled that the Justice Department's firing of Comey's daughter, Maurene Comey, a federal prosecutor in New York, was unlawful. The judge ordered her reinstated with back pay.
