The Trump Justice Department has now gone after James Comey three times. On Monday, a federal judge in Washington unsealed a case with former FBI Director James Comey charged with leaking national defense information. So the real question is no longer whether the DOJ wants him. Instead, it is whether this case can survive a courtroom.
Judge Trevor McFadden opened the case at Comey’s request. The government did not object, according to the unsealing order. Just hours earlier, a different judge ruled that the DOJ illegally fired his daughter, Maurene Comey.
Key Takeaways
- Prosecutors filed a criminal information, not a grand jury indictment, on Oct. 5, 2026.
- It charges transmitting national defense information and conspiracy, tied to Oct. 5, 2016.
- Comey’s lawyers say two separate U.S. Attorneys looked at the same alleged leak and declined to prosecute.
- Comey says he is innocent, and the court has not yet ruled on his motion to dismiss.
James Comey Charged: What the DOJ Alleges
The case centers on an Oct. 5, 2016, New York Times story by reporter Charlie Savage. It reported that Yahoo had aided U.S. email surveillance by adapting a spam filter. At the time, Comey ran the FBI.
Under Count I, Comey allegedly sent a sensitive national defense document to someone not entitled to receive it. That count falls under 18 U.S.C. 793(d), the order states. Count II then charges a conspiracy with “others known and unknown.”
Prosecutors say Comey wanted to correct a Reuters report from the day before. In a filing, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Dustin Farahnak wrote that Comey “directed staff to speak to Mr. Savage about specific accuracy concerns related to the Reuters article, and thereby illegally transferred classified information,” according to NBC News.
Comey Calls It an “Appalling Abuse”
With James Comey charged a third time, his answer came fast in a video on Substack. “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,” he said. He added, “I’m still innocent.”
His lawyers also point to history. They told the court the alleged leak “was investigated by two separate U.S. Attorneys over the past ten years. Both declined to prosecute,” CNBC reports. Meanwhile, attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said Comey “will fight these charges vigorously and in the open.”
This is also the third case. First, a judge tossed a 2025 Virginia indictment. The judge found that Lindsey Halligan, the prosecutor behind it, held her post invalidly. Then, in April, North Carolina prosecutors indicted Comey over a photo of seashells reading “8647.” He denies wrongdoing there too.
An Information, Not an Indictment
Here is the part that matters most. Federal felony cases normally go through a grand jury. Instead, prosecutors filed this charge on their own on Oct. 5, 2026, exactly ten years after the alleged leak. Comey’s lawyers argue that the deadline to indict ran out that day, so the case is “time barred.”
The DOJ disagrees. A spokesperson called filing an information to pause the clock “a widely recognized practice in federal court.” Several appeals courts have approved it, the DOJ says. Still, Comey cannot stand trial on the information alone unless he waives indictment. In other words, prosecutors still need a grand jury, if the court allows it. That is the weak spot in getting James Comey charged by information alone.
With James Comey Charged Again, Equal Justice Is on Trial
Let’s be clear. Leaking classified information is serious. In fact, just last week we covered a CIA contractor arrested under the same statute. We said then that the law should apply to everyone. That includes a former FBI director. Comey earned plenty of conservative distrust, and nobody is above the law.
But equal justice cuts both ways. Comey’s lawyers say two sets of prosecutors reviewed this alleged leak and passed. Fitzgerald says those teams worked “during the first Trump administration.” Now, a decade later, the charge arrives without a grand jury. It also comes from an administration whose leader has called Comey a “dirty cop.” Naturally, that invites the charge that this case started with a target, not a crime.
That matters for DOJ credibility. For years, conservatives objected when prosecutors seemed to pick targets first. The standard cannot change just because the target changed. So if the evidence is strong, take it to a grand jury. Then let a judge test it in open court.
What Comes Next
Judge McFadden wrote that he will address the rest of the dismissal motion “in due course.” Meanwhile, Comey has offered to “self-surrender,” according to the order. The first big fight is the clock. If the judge agrees the case is time barred, it ends there. Either way, James Comey charged is not James Comey convicted.
So here is our question for you: should a ten-year-old leak case that two prosecutors passed on go forward now?
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