The U.S. Department of Justice is attempting to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey over an alleged decade-old leak of classified information. Unsealed court documents revealed Monday that prosecutors filed a criminal information in an effort to extend the legal time limit to bring charges, drawing immediate pushback from Comey’s defense team.
Comey’s lawyers dismissed the filing as invalid, arguing that federal law strictly requires an indictment within the 10-year statute of limitations rather than a criminal information. The action represents a third attempt by the Justice Department to bring criminal charges against Comey, who has remained a vocal critic of President Donald Trump.
“Well, they’re back — again,” Comey said in a video statement Monday. “It would almost be funny if it weren’t such an appalling abuse of the Department of Justice – one that we cannot become numb to. Nothing’s changed with me; I’m still innocent, I’m still not afraid of these people — and I still believe in an independent federal judiciary.”
Allegations and Statute of Limitations Dispute
The latest legal maneuver involves an October 2016 news report published by The New York Times concerning a secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court order requiring Yahoo to scan emails for messages related to a foreign terrorist organization. Unsealed filings indicate prosecutors believe Comey directed staff to speak with a reporter to correct inaccuracies from a Reuters article published the previous day, which prosecutors contend led to an illegal transfer of classified information.
To prevent the expiration of the statute of limitations, the Justice Department filed a criminal information under seal—a document that can be submitted without grand jury approval or a judge’s finding of probable cause. Department representatives defended the procedure as standard practice.
“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. This is an ongoing criminal investigation, and we will not comment further,” a department spokesperson said.
Comey’s defense attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald, challenged the legality of the document and asked a judge to dismiss it. Fitzgerald noted that two prior government investigations into the matter—including an inquiry by prosecutor John Durham in 2018 and a subsequent District of Columbia federal probe code-named “Tropical Vortex” that closed in 2020—both ended without any charges being brought.
“For the third time in little more than one year, the Department of Justice has attempted to charge Mr. Comey with a federal crime. Mr. Comey steadfastly maintains his innocence,” Fitzgerald said in a statement.
History of Legal Actions and Conflict
The latest move follows two other criminal cases brought against Comey. A federal judge in Virginia dismissed a case accusing Comey of lying to Congress in 2020 after concluding the prosecutor was illegally appointed. A separate pending case accuses Comey of threatening Trump via an Instagram photo depicting seashells arranged to read “86 47,” a charge Comey has moved to dismiss.
The scrutiny has also affected Comey’s family. On Monday, a federal judge ruled that the Justice Department acted illegally when it terminated Comey’s daughter, Maurene Comey, from her role as a federal prosecutor in New York last year.
Tensions between Trump and Comey trace back to 2017, when Comey led the FBI during its investigation into potential ties between Russia and Trump’s presidential campaign. Trump fired Comey in May 2017, triggering the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller. A judicial ruling on Comey’s motion to dismiss the latest criminal information remains pending.
