DoJ Charges James Comey with Espionage Act Violations
(Reuters)
By Kaelan Deese
Former FBI Director James Comey is facing his third round of federal criminal charges in just under two years after the Justice Department charged him with unlawfully sharing national defense information and conspiring to disclose it, according to a court filing made public Monday.
The two-count criminal charging sheet, unsealed Monday in the District of Columbia, alleges Comey knowingly and willfully transmitted sensitive information to someone unauthorized to receive it on Oct. 5, 2016, while he was still leading the FBI.
Prosecutors used a criminal information — a type of charge filed without a grand jury indictment — to allege Comey operated through one or more co-conspirators, and directed an unnamed person to disclose national defense information to a reporter for a national news publication.
The charges allege violations of the Espionage Act’s provisions governing unauthorized disclosure of national defense information and conspiracy. Additional court records indicate his attorneys filed a motion ten days ago to dismiss the charges. He has not been indicted in the case.
The case had been assigned to U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, an appointee of President Donald Trump who was asked by Comey to unseal the case and dismiss the charges earlier this month.
The new charges stem from an Oct. 5, 2016, New York Times article by Charlie Savage headlined “Yahoo Said to Have Aided U.S. Email Surveillance by Adapting Spam Filter.”
In a court filing, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Dustin Farahnak alleged that Comey directed staff to contact Savage to correct what Comey believed was misinformation in a Reuters article published the previous day. Prosecutors allege that those communications illegally disclosed classified information.
Federal law provides a 10-year statute of limitations for the Espionage Act offenses charged against Comey. The charging document was filed Oct. 5, exactly 10 years after the alleged disclosure, and a DOJ spokesperson said the timing was intended to “toll” the statute of limitations, likely until the department is ready to obtain an indictment.
Comey denied wrongdoing in a statement posted to his Substack as news of the charges broke, calling the prosecution “an appalling abuse of the Department of Justice.”
“I’m still innocent. I’m still not afraid of these people, and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary,” Comey said, pledging to “stand up in court and fight the latest and whatever comes after this.”
He was previously charged in April over an Instagram photograph showing seashells arranged as “86 47,” which prosecutors alleged constituted a threat against President Donald Trump.
A separate prosecution accusing Comey of lying to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding was dismissed in November 2025 after a judge found Lindsey Halligan, the prosecutor who secured that indictment, had been unlawfully appointed.
The latest case also comes as former CIA Director John Brennan’s lawyers have sought to prepare for a possible indictment, asking a court to require preservation of investigative records to support a potential vindictive prosecution challenge. A judge dismissed that lawsuit Oct. 15, finding Brennan lacked standing.
The charges surfaced hours after a federal judge ruled the DOJ unlawfully fired Comey’s daughter, Maurene Comey, from her position as a federal prosecutor in Manhattan last year. That ruling concerned her employment and was separate from the criminal allegations against her father.
Comey’s new case follows the prosecution of former national security adviser John Bolton, another outspoken Trump critic, who pleaded guilty in June to one count of willfully retaining national defense information. Bolton initially faced 18 counts involving the retention and transmission of sensitive material, including diary-style notes shared with relatives. His sentencing is scheduled for Wednesday.
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