Ex-FBI Director James Comey Faces Third Federal Charge

Former FBI Director James Comey has been charged with federal crimes for the third time. A court filing unsealed on Monday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., accuses him of knowingly sharing national defense information with a person who lacked authorization to receive it. The document also alleges he conspired with others to violate the law governing such disclosures.

The information, filed by the Department of Justice, states that Comey directed an unnamed individual to pass national defense information to a reporter at a national news publication. His legal team argues this refers to a disclosure made to The New York Times on October 5, 2016. They contend the case should be dismissed because two separate U.S. Attorneys investigated the matter over the past decade and both declined to prosecute.

The Justice Department filed the information on October 5 and requested the judge seal it to prevent an ongoing criminal investigation from being compromised. Judge Trevor McFadden granted that request immediately. However, Comey’s attorneys filed a motion to dismiss on October 9. They argued that the 10-year statute of limitations for a grand jury indictment had expired regarding events from 2016. Their lawyers accused the DOJ of filing a faulty information under seal to pause the limitations clock.

Comey’s attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald, said in a statement that the DOJ has attempted to charge his client with a federal crime for the third time in just over one year. Fitzgerald stated that Comey steadfastly maintains his innocence. Comey and President Donald Trump have been vocal critics of one another since Trump fired Comey as FBI director in 2017. The new charges land against a backdrop of ongoing friction between the two men.

The unsealing of the document came hours after a federal judge in New York ruled that the DOJ unlawfully fired Comey’s daughter, Maurene Comey, last year. She had served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. In a video message on Substack, Comey addressed the new case directly. He described the situation as an appalling abuse of the Department of Justice. He said he remains not afraid of his accusers and still believes in the independent federal judiciary.

Comey is simultaneously fighting another case in North Carolina federal court. He was charged in late April with threatening Trump’s life by posting a photo of seashells on a beach. Prosecutors claim the shells were arranged to form the numbers 86 and 47. They argue that 86 is code for eliminating a target, while 47 refers to Trump’s position as the 47th U.S. president. Comey has denied any wrongdoing in that matter and is seeking to have the indictment tossed.

His legal troubles began in September 2025 when a federal grand jury in Virginia indicted him. The charges involved making a false statement and obstruction regarding his September 30, 2020, testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. In that testimony, he denied authorizing an FBI employee to serve as an anonymous source in reports about the Hillary Clinton email investigation. A judge dismissed that first indictment on November 24, 2025. The ruling cited the invalid appointment of the interim U.S. attorney who obtained it. The same judge also dismissed an unrelated indictment against New York Attorney General Letitia James on that date.