Justice Department Moves to Charge James Comey a Third Time, This Time Over Alleged Leak

The Justice Department took steps earlier this month to charge former FBI Director James Comey with leaking classified information, according to court records. It is the department's third attempt to bring criminal charges against Comey, a longtime foe of President Trump.

Prosecutors want to charge Comey with two counts of violating the Espionage Act by transmitting national defense information to a person not entitled to receive it. He has not been indicted by a grand jury or charged through a criminal complaint. Instead, the department used a criminal information, a filing that requires neither grand jury approval nor a magistrate judge's finding of probable cause.

A Justice Department spokesperson said the information was filed to preserve the statute of limitations before it expires, and called the matter an ongoing investigation. The department also said filing a criminal information to toll the statute of limitations is a widely recognized practice in federal court that multiple Circuit Courts of Appeals have approved.

The case stems from allegations that Comey gave national defense information to an unnamed person for disclosure in a newspaper in October 2016. Court filings point to a New York Times article published Oct. 5, 2016, about Yahoo and U.S. email surveillance, which cited two unnamed government officials. The department alleges Comey sought to correct misinformation that Reuters had published the day before and directed staff to speak with the Times reporter about its accuracy.

Comey's attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald, said Comey "steadfastly maintains his innocence" and is accused of crimes he did not commit. Fitzgerald added that investigators examined the matter twice during the first Trump administration and "determined that no charges should be brought against anyone." Those reviews included a 2017 inquiry by then U.S. Attorney John Durham, which identified two sources for the article, including former FBI general counsel James Baker, and a later D.C. U.S. Attorney's Office investigation code-named Tropic Vortex, closed in February 2020. Neither produced charges.

Former prosecutors and defense attorneys told CBS News they had not seen a criminal information used this way in a felony case. Greg Rosen, a former federal prosecutor, said he never saw one used like this in years of practicing in D.C. Michael Bromwich, a former Justice Department inspector general turned defense attorney, said such filings normally occur when a defendant waives a grand jury and plans to plead guilty. He called the approach "an end-run around the statute of limitations."

The filing was made under seal in early October, and the two sides spent much of the month fighting over it in private. Comey's lawyers argued in an Oct. 9 filing that the 10-year statute of limitations, which runs out this October, applies to indictments and cannot be extended by an information. They also said they feared an after-hours arrest before a holiday weekend. In an emergency hearing, the government agreed to hold off on seeking an indictment for 30 days, his attorneys later wrote. U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden unsealed the docket Monday at Comey's request, writing that charges against a former FBI director are of "significant public interest." He did not rule on the merits.

The case follows two earlier actions against Comey. A September 2025 indictment accusing him of lying to Congress was thrown out on the grounds that Lindsey Halligan was improperly appointed as interim U.S. attorney. In April, he was charged in North Carolina over an Instagram photo of seashells arranged to read "86 47," which prosecutors characterized as a threat against Trump. That case is pending, and his lawyers are seeking dismissal, citing vindictive and selective prosecution.

In a video statement, Comey said, "I'm still innocent, I'm still not afraid of these people and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary." Attorney General Todd Blanche has denied that the charges against Comey and other Trump adversaries are politically driven.