Justice Department Charges James Comey in Third Federal Case

The US Justice Department has brought a third federal criminal case against former FBI Director James Comey, accusing him of unlawfully disclosing classified information related to a national security matter in October 2016. Court records made public Monday, October 26, 2026, detail allegations stemming from contacts with a journalist while Comey led the FBI. Prosecutors filed the criminal information in the US District Court for the District of Columbia on October 5, 2026, exactly 10 years after the alleged disclosure.

The case remained sealed until Monday, while Comey's defense attorneys had already sought dismissal, arguing that the government missed the deadline for bringing charges through a grand jury indictment. According to NBC News, the allegations concern a New York Times article published October 5, 2016, by reporter Charlie Savage. The article examined Yahoo's role in US email surveillance and followed a Reuters report published the previous day.

In a court filing unsealed Monday, Special Assistant US Attorney Dustin Farahnak described the government's allegations concerning Comey's efforts to address the earlier reporting.

"The United States’ investigation has uncovered evidence that former FBI Director, James B. Comey, sought to correct misinformation which had appeared in the press by way of Reuters the day before," Special Assistant US Attorney Dustin Farahnak wrote in a filing unsealed Monday. Farahnak's filing further alleged that Comey instructed staff members to discuss specific accuracy concerns with Savage, resulting in the unauthorized transfer of classified information. The publicly available records provide limited additional details about the alleged disclosure.

Comey rejected the allegations in a video published on Substack after the charges became public. He characterized the prosecution as an abuse of federal authority and maintained that he had done nothing wrong. "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," Comey said in a video he posted on Substack after the charges were made public.

Comey also reaffirmed his confidence in the federal judiciary and said the new case had not changed his position. He has consistently denied wrongdoing in the criminal cases brought against him. "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," he said. Comey's lawyers argue that the latest case is barred by the statute of limitations because prosecutors filed a criminal information rather than obtaining a grand jury indictment within the 10-year period.

A criminal information is a charging document filed by prosecutors, rather than an indictment returned by a grand jury.

According to NBC News, the defense contends that both counts rely exclusively on the alleged October 5, 2016, disclosure. The lawyers have asked the court to dismiss the charges on timeliness grounds.

The Justice Department used a criminal information to preserve the government's position regarding the limitations deadline. CNN reported that federal prosecutors described the filing as a recognized legal practice that has been approved by multiple federal appellate courts. The new case adds to a series of prosecutions involving Comey since President Donald Trump began his second term.

Trump dismissed Comey as FBI director in May 2017, following years of tension linked in part to the FBI investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. A previous federal case accusing Comey of misleading Congress was dismissed by a judge after questions arose over whether the prosecutor who brought it had been lawfully appointed. On April 28, 2026, a grand jury in North Carolina indicted Comey on two felony counts alleging that he threatened Trump through a social media post.

The North Carolina case concerns an Instagram image Comey shared in May 2025 while vacationing with his wife. The image showed seashells arranged to spell "86 47," accompanied by a caption describing the formation as something he had encountered during a beach walk. Comey has denied that he threatened the president.

In that separate case, defense attorneys have filed motions challenging the prosecution on constitutional and procedural grounds. According to Lawfare, the motions include arguments that the post was protected by the First Amendment and that the prosecution was selective or vindictive. Other defense motions seek to suppress evidence obtained through search warrants covering Comey's Apple account and Google accounts associated with him and his wife, Patrice. The defense also seeks an evidentiary hearing to examine allegations that investigators included misleading statements or omitted material information in warrant applications.

The latest Washington case remains separate from the North Carolina prosecution. The newly unsealed records identify the alleged disclosure at issue, while the defense's statute-of-limitations challenge remains a central issue in the proceedings.