Federal prosecutors have filed new criminal charges against former FBI Director James Comey, accusing him of transmitting national defense information and conspiring to transmit it — the third criminal case brought against Trump's longtime critic since the president's second term began. The charges, unsealed Monday in federal court in Washington, D.C., center on an alleged 2016 disclosure tied to reporting about Yahoo and U.S. email surveillance.
Charges Tied to a Decade-Old News Story
According to NBC News, the new charges stem from an October 5, 2016, article in The New York Times. Prosecutors allege that Comey directed staff to speak with Times reporter Charlie Savage about specific accuracy concerns related to a Reuters article, and that doing so illegally transferred classified information, as detailed by NBC Washington. The Trump administration's pursuit of Comey, a former FBI director and longtime critic and foe of the president, has continued since Trump returned to the White House in 2025, according to The Virginian-Pilot.
Notably, the charges were filed as a criminal information — essentially a charge brought directly by prosecutors — rather than through a grand jury indictment, per the same NBC News report. The Justice Department bypassed a grand jury in this latest effort, according to The Virginian-Pilot, even as it says it is still seeking to bring the case before one for a formal indictment, according to CNN.
Defense Says the Clock Has Run Out
Comey's attorneys filed a motion ten days ago to dismiss the charges, arguing the case is barred by the statute of limitations, the NBC News report states. His lawyers have separately said the case is legally invalid, according to The Virginian-Pilot. Prosecutors maintain the charges are timely, the same NBC News account notes, setting up a dispute over timing that has defined much of the legal fight so far.
Comey responded to the new charges in a statement carried by NBC News, saying: “I'm still innocent. I'm still not afraid of these people, and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary.”
Third Case in a Pattern of Prosecutions
The Justice Department has now brought three criminal cases against Comey, including this attempted prosecution, according to The Virginian-Pilot. The first of those cases was dismissed by a judge, while the second resulted in an April 2026 indictment in North Carolina over an image of seashells arranged to spell “8647,” the NBC News report states. The Trump administration is pursuing that separate case over the social-media image, which prosecutors allege threatened the president, according to The New York Times.
The administration's broader effort to bring criminal cases against perceived adversaries has not always succeeded. A separate Justice Department attempt to indict New York Attorney General Letitia James failed after a grand jury refused to sign off on the charges, according to PBS NewsHour. With Comey's motion to dismiss pending and prosecutors still aiming for a grand jury indictment, the latest case against the former FBI director remains unresolved.
