Ex-FBI chief James Comey faces federal charges for third time

Federal prosecutors have taken steps to charge former FBI Director James Comey with two counts of leaking national defence information, according to a court filing in Washington DC. Few details were provided in the filing. The charges, filed as a criminal information rather than a grand jury indictment, allege Comey directed a subordinate to disclose information to a New York Times reporter about a 5 October 2016 article. Comey's lawyer, Patrick Fitzgerald, said two earlier government investigations of the matter concluded no charges should be brought, and that the filing purports to charge crimes Comey did not commit. A motion to dismiss has been filed, with one former prosecutor saying it may exceed the 10-year statute of limitations. Comey denied wrongdoing in a Substack video, calling the charges an appalling abuse of the Justice Department. The Justice Department said the filing was intended to toll the statute of limitations and that the investigation is ongoing. This is the third criminal case against Comey since 2025; the others are a dismissed false-statements case and a pending case over a social media post.

Where accounts differ. CNN quotes Elie Honig saying the information likely cannot extend the statute of limitations, while Justice Department statements and DW describe the filing as a valid tolling mechanism, a legal dispute only some outlets report.

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Written by AI from these outlets' articles: facts they report, claims attributed, numbers checked against the sources. It may still contain errors; read the originals.