US Justice Department charges former FBI Director James Comey for third time

On Monday, 26 October 2026, the United States Department of Justice filed criminal charges against former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James B. Comey, marking the third federal case pursued against him during President Donald Trump's administration according to court documents made public. The new filing accuses Comey of transmitting national-defence information and conspiring to do so. Prosecutors allege that while serving as FBI director in 2016, Comey directed staff and co-conspirators to pass sensitive information to a reporter at a national news publication.

The charges stem from an article published by The New York Times on October 5, 2016, titled “Yahoo Said to Have Aided U.S. Email Surveillance by Adapting Spam Filter” and written by reporter Charlie Savage. According to a filing by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Dustin Farahnak, the investigation uncovered evidence that Comey sought to correct misinformation appearing in a Reuters article the day before by having staff speak with Savage, thereby transferring classified information. Comey’s defence team, led by Patrick Fitzgerald, filed a motion to dismiss the charges, arguing that the case is time-barred because the filing occurred exactly ten years after the alleged disclosure. Fitzgerald noted that two different prosecution teams investigated the same matter during the first Trump administration and determined no charges should be brought.

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In a video statement posted online, Comey rejected the allegations:

"Well, they're back again. It would almost be funny if it weren't such an appalling abuse of the Department of Justice, one that we cannot become numb to. Nothing's changed with me. I'm still innocent. I'm still not afraid of these people, and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary."

James Comey, Former FBI Director, via Substack and Instagram

A Justice Department spokesperson defended the procedural approach, stating that prosecutors filed a waiverless criminal information to toll the statute of limitations. The spokesperson maintained that filing a criminal information to pause the clock is a widely recognized practice approved by multiple Circuit Courts of Appeals, adding that the matter remains an ongoing criminal investigation. Unlike a grand jury indictment, a criminal information is filed directly by prosecutors without grand jury approval, meaning Comey has not waived his right to a grand jury and cannot be tried on the information alone.

The latest legal action coincides with other prosecutions involving Comey since Trump's second term began. In September 2025, a federal grand jury indicted Comey on charges of making false statements to Congress and obstructing an investigation into Russian election interference. That case was dismissed by a judge after it was found that the prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan, had been unlawfully appointed. In April 2026, Comey was indicted in North Carolina over an Instagram post featuring a photograph of seashells arranged to read “8647,” which prosecutors allege constituted a threat against Trump. Comey has maintained his innocence in that ongoing case, which stems from a 2025 social media post.

The unsealing of the latest charges occurred on the same day a federal judge in New York ruled that the Justice Department unlawfully fired Comey’s eldest daughter, Maurene Comey, from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. The judge ordered her reinstatement and back pay after she argued she was dismissed due to her father in violation of federal laws protecting civil servants from political termination.