FBI chief seeks dismissal of new defense leak case

James Comey, the former FBI director, faces a third set of federal criminal charges under the current administration. The Department of Justice unsealed a new court filing in Washington, D.C., on Monday. The move was requested by Comey’s legal team. The charges stem from a 2016 incident involving the sharing of national defense details.

The new information accuses Comey of knowingly passing national defense information to an unauthorized person. It also charges him with conspiring with others to violate that law. According to the document, Comey directed an unnamed individual to disclose the information to a reporter for a national news publication. The alleged recipient was The New York Times, and the disclosure occurred on Oct. 5, 2016.

Comey’s lawyers are seeking to dismiss the case entirely. They argue that the statute of limitations for a grand jury indictment on events from Oct. 5, 2016, expired in 2026. The attorneys claim the DOJ filed a faulty information under seal to pause that clock. They noted that two separate U.S. attorneys investigated the disclosure over the past ten years and both declined to prosecute.

Patrick Fitzgerald, Comey’s attorney, said in a statement that the DOJ has attempted to charge his client for the third time in just over one year. Fitzgerald maintained that Comey steadfastly maintains his innocence. The DOJ originally filed the information on Oct. 5 and asked Judge Trevor McFadden to seal it. McFadden granted that request, citing the risk that an ongoing criminal investigation would be compromised.

This latest development follows a ruling in New York where a federal judge found the DOJ unlawfully fired Maurene Comey, James Comey’s daughter, last year. Maurene Comey served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. In a video message on Substack, James Comey called the new charges an appalling abuse of the department. He stated that he is still innocent and not afraid of the people prosecuting him.

Comey is currently fighting a separate indictment in North Carolina. That case alleges he threatened President Donald Trump’s life by posting a photo of seashells on Instagram in late April. The seashells were arranged to form the numbers 86 and 47. Prosecutors claim the number 86, a restaurant term for a sold-out item, served as code to suggest Trump be killed. Trump is the 47th U.S. president.

The current administration has targeted Comey since Trump fired him as FBI director in 2017. Comey was first indicted in September 2025 in Virginia on charges of making a false statement and obstruction. That case was dismissed on Nov. 24, 2025, after a judge ruled his appointing official, Lindsey Halligan, had been invalidly appointed. On that same day, a judge also dismissed an unrelated indictment against New York Attorney General Letitia James.