The Justice Department has charged former FBI Director James Comey with two federal crimes over an alleged 2016 leak of national defense information, in a criminal information unsealed Monday in Washington by U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden. It is the third criminal case brought against Comey in roughly a year.
Comey denies the charges. "Nothing's changed with me. I'm still innocent," he said in a short video, according to Mediaite's report, syndicated by Yahoo. Like anyone charged with a crime, he is presumed innocent.
What the filing actually says
The charging document is three pages long, and it leaves out more than it includes. Based on the descriptions published by Mediaite and Court Cast:
Count one: transmitting national defense information to someone not authorized to receive it, under the Espionage Act: What the information was.
Count two: conspiracy to commit the same offense: Who the co-conspirators are.
On or about Oct. 5, 2016, Comey, acting through co-conspirators, directed "Individual #1" to disclose the information to a reporter for a national news publication: The name of the reporter or the publication.
The conspiracy began no later than Oct. 4, 2016: Whether it came out of the leak investigation the department reopened in August.
The case was filed under seal on October 5 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Prosecutors were not seeking Comey's arrest at that stage, Court Cast reported, and he offered to surrender voluntarily.
Why the date matters
The newsroom's arithmetic: the alleged disclosure happened on or about October 5, 2016. The filing came on October 5, 2026, exactly ten years later. Comey's lawyers argue that the statute of limitations for the charged offense is ten years and that it expired that day.
The government filed an information, not an indictment, and that choice is the center of the fight. A grand jury returns an indictment. An information is a charge written and signed by prosecutors alone. Under the Fifth Amendment and Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 7, a federal felony must be prosecuted by indictment unless the defendant waives that right, which Comey has not done.
Comey's lawyers moved to dismiss while the case was still sealed. They argue that an information cannot preserve charges that require an indictment, and that the deadline has passed, according to Court Cast. The government has described the filing as a way to preserve the case while prosecutors seek an indictment. Judge McFadden has not ruled. Statutes of limitations are not usually this close, as we explained in our look at why murder never expires, but in federal cases a single day can decide whether a charge survives.
The defense response
Patrick Fitzgerald, Comey's lawyer, said in a statement that "Mr. Comey steadfastly maintains his innocence," that the filing "purports to charge Mr. Comey with crimes that he did not commit," and that "Mr. Comey will fight these charges vigorously and in the open," according to the Mediaite report. Fitzgerald said two prosecution teams had investigated the same 2016 disclosure during Trump's first term and concluded that no charges should be brought.
Politico reported, as cited by Mediaite, that prosecutors allege Comey allowed then-FBI General Counsel James Baker to leak classified material. The filing itself names no one other than Comey.
Comey's three cases
September 2025, Virginia: Charges of making false statements to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding. A judge dismissed the case in November 2025 after finding the prosecutor who brought it had been unlawfully appointed. The department has appealed, Court Cast reported. We covered that case's arraignment.
April 2026, North Carolina: Two felony counts over a social media photo of seashells spelling "86 47," which Trump read as a threat. That case is pending.
October 2026, Washington: The new Espionage Act information.
The filing landed the same day a federal judge in Manhattan ruled that the Justice Department unlawfully fired Comey's daughter, Maurene Comey. If prosecutors do go to a grand jury, the secret process we described in what grand juries do will decide whether this case gets a second life.
Two Taps News stories summarize reporting and the analysis discussed on Two Taps and Friends. They are not legal advice. Read our standards.
