Justice Department moves to charge James Comey a third time, days before midterms

The Justice Department has taken steps to charge former FBI Director James Comey with leaking classified information, court records unsealed Monday show — its third attempt to bring criminal charges against a longtime target of President Donald Trump ¹².

Prosecutors are seeking two counts under the Espionage Act, accusing Comey of transmitting national defense information to a person not entitled to receive it ¹. The department filed a criminal information, a charging document that does not require grand jury approval or a magistrate's finding of probable cause ¹.

On tapeCBS News · Oct 26

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A Justice Department spokesperson said the information was filed to preserve the statute of limitations before it expires, and that "this is an ongoing criminal investigation, and we will not comment further" ¹. In a social media statement, the department said: "Filing a criminal information to toll the statute of limitations is a widely recognized practice in federal court and has been approved by multiple Circuit Courts of Appeals" ¹.

What the filing alleges

The case stems from allegations that Comey gave national defense information to an unnamed individual for disclosure in a newspaper in October 2016 ¹. Court filings point to a New York Times article published Oct. 5, 2016, titled "Yahoo Said to Have Aided U.S. Email Surveillance By Adapting Spam Filter," which cited two unnamed government officials ¹. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Dustin Farahnak said the investigation found Comey "directed staff to speak to Mr. Savage about specific accuracy concerns related to the Reuters article, and thereby illegally transferred classified information" ².

From Channel GOPRaskin: Trump orders up prosecutions like pizzaJamie Raskin · 215 plays · captioned, with the source named

The charging documents were filed under seal in early October and unsealed by U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee, at Comey's request ¹². McFadden wrote that "Criminal charges against a former FBI director for his conduct while in office are of significant public interest" ¹.

A fight over the deadline

Comey's legal team moved to dismiss the case on Oct. 9, arguing the statute of limitations for the 2016 conduct had ended in 2021 ². The crime carries a 10-year statute of limitations that would run out in October of this year, but his lawyers say the deadline applies to indictments and cannot be extended by filing a criminal information ¹. In an emergency hearing, the government agreed to hold off on seeking an indictment for 30 days ¹.

On tapeNBC News · Oct 26

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Former prosecutors and defense attorneys told CBS News they had not seen a criminal information filed in a felony case in this manner before ¹. Michael Bromwich, a former Justice Department inspector general now in private practice, said: "I have never heard of proceeding by information to toll the statute of limitations. Most prosecutors you have ever dealt with have never heard of that. This seems to be a way to do an end-run around the statute of limitations and keep a case alive that deserved to die 9 years ago" ¹.

Comey's attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald, said his client "steadfastly maintains his innocence" and that the information "purports to charge Mr. Comey with crimes that he did not commit" ¹. He added that investigators looked into the matter twice during the first Trump administration and "determined that no charges should be brought against anyone" ¹.

The filing marks the third federal case against Comey since Trump returned to the White House ². A September 2025 indictment charging him with lying to Congress was dismissed after a judge ruled interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan was unlawfully appointed, and a case filed in April over a social media post of seashells spelling out "86 47" remains ongoing ².

That matters because the Justice Department filed the charging document in early October, about a month before the midterm elections, and it is the latest overt investigative step in a politically charged case ¹. The pattern is a Justice Department increasingly bringing cases without first obtaining a grand jury indictment — prosecutors have struggled to convince grand juries in Washington to approve felony indictments, Courthouse News reported ².

The Record

1. Oct 5, 2016The New York Times publishes an article on Yahoo's email surveillance that cited two unnamed government officials ¹.
2. Oct 5, 2026The Justice Department files the criminal information under seal ².
3. Oct 9, 2026Comey's legal team moves to dismiss the charges, arguing the statute of limitations had ended in 2021 ².
4. Oct 26, 2026Judge Trevor McFadden unseals the case at Comey's request ¹².

Sources

1. CBS News, “DOJ takes steps to charge James Comey again” (2026-10-26). cbsnews.com/news/doj-takes-steps-to-charge-james-comey/
2. Courthouse News, “Former FBI Director James Comey faces new criminal case in DC” (2026-10-26). courthousenews.com/former-fbi-director-james-comey-faces-new

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