Justice Department Brings New National Defense Information Case Against Former FBI Director James Comey
Federal prosecutors unsealed a third criminal case against former FBI Director James Comey on Monday, charging him over the alleged sharing of national defense information in October 2016. Comey denied the charges in a video statement and said he will fight the case.
The Justice Department has brought a third criminal case against former FBI Director James Comey, according to court records made public on Monday, Oct. 26. The charges accuse Comey of transmitting national defense information and conspiring to transmit national defense information.
The filing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia says Comey shared sensitive national defense information with a person who was not entitled to receive it, and directed another person to share sensitive information with a news outlet. The documents do not name the information at issue or the people involved, according to USA Today.
According to court documents cited by USA Today, the conduct alleged in the case dates to Oct. 4 and 5, 2016, when Comey was director of the FBI. CNN reported that the charges were first filed on Oct. 5 of this year, 10 years after the alleged transmission, and were kept under seal until Monday.
Why the filing came now
The Justice Department said it filed a criminal information without a waiver to freeze the statute of limitations in the case. In a statement quoted by USA Today and CNN, the department said filing a criminal information to toll the statute of limitations is a widely recognized practice in federal court and has been approved by multiple federal appeals courts.
The department said the investigation is ongoing and declined to comment further. CNN reported that prosecutors still plan to seek an indictment from a grand jury.
Comey’s lawyers have already moved to dismiss the case in sealed proceedings, according to CNN. His lawyers argued that an indictment was required within 10 years and that the filing does not meet that requirement. “An indictment fundamentally differs from an information,” his lawyers said in a court filing quoted by CNN.
Comey denies the charges
Comey denied the charges in a video statement posted after the filing became public. “It would almost be funny if it were not such an appalling abuse of the Department of Justice, one we cannot become numb to,” Comey said. “Nothing’s changed with me, I’m still innocent, I’m still not afraid of these people.”
Comey was fired as FBI director by President Donald Trump in 2017, during the FBI investigation into links between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia. USA Today reported that Trump has viewed Comey as a foe since that investigation.
The new case follows two earlier cases brought against Comey by the Justice Department under Trump. USA Today reported that Comey was charged in April and September 2025. The first case, which accused him of lying to Congress, was dismissed by a judge. The second case, tied to a social media image of seashells arranged to read “8647,” is still pending, according to USA Today and CNN.
The charges were unsealed hours after a judge ruled that the Justice Department’s 2025 firing of Comey’s daughter Maurene Comey, a federal prosecutor in Manhattan, was unlawful. USA Today reported that ruling on Monday as well.
Reporting based on coverage by USA Today and CNN.
