A decade after a single newspaper story, federal prosecutors are trying to make it the basis of a criminal case.
The Justice Department has charged former FBI Director James Comey for a third time, alleging he directed a leak of sensitive national security information to The New York Times in October 2016, according to court records made public late Monday, Oct. 26, 2026.
What is James Comey accused of?
Prosecutors filed a criminal information with two counts against Comey on Oct. 5, exactly 10 years after the alleged conduct. It charges him under the Espionage Act with transmitting national defense information to someone not entitled to receive it and with conspiring to do so.
The case centers on an Oct. 5, 2016, Times article about a secret surveillance court order that required Yahoo to scan customer emails. Prosecutors say Comey, through others, directed his staff to speak with the newspaper about accuracy concerns over a Reuters story published the day before, leading to the unlawful disclosure. The Times story cited two government officials who spoke anonymously.
James Comey has denied wrongdoing. Like any defendant, he is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
Why does the timing matter?
Espionage Act charges generally must be brought within 10 years of the alleged crime. The department said it filed the information to pause that deadline, which would otherwise have expired this month.
Unlike an indictment, a criminal information does not require approval from a grand jury. No indictment has been filed yet. Federal rules generally allow felonies to be charged by information only when a defendant waives the right to a grand jury.
Comey’s lawyers have asked the court to dismiss the case, arguing that only a grand jury indictment can keep a case alive once the time limit has passed. They urged the court to enforce the law as Congress wrote it.
What did the judge decide?
U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden granted James Comey’s request to unseal the case files, and the department did not object. The judge has not yet ruled on the motion to dismiss.
Comey’s attorney said the newspaper story was investigated twice during the first Trump administration without charges, including by a special counsel. The defense said this was the third time in little more than a year that the department has tried to charge Comey with a federal crime.
What other cases does James Comey face?
A separate case in North Carolina accuses Comey of threatening President Donald Trump by posting a photo of seashells arranged to read 8647. Comey has denied that the post was meant as a threat.
An earlier case over his congressional testimony about leaks to the media was dismissed by a judge last year. That case was thrown out after a judge found the prosecutor who brought it had been improperly appointed.
Critics see the cases as part of a push to target the president’s perceived political enemies, while the administration says it is enforcing the law.
What happens next for James Comey?
The judge will need to decide whether the case can go forward before arguments over the 2016 article begin. If prosecutors obtain a grand jury indictment, the timing dispute could become more complicated.
On the same day the records were unsealed, a federal judge in New York ruled that the department unlawfully fired Comey’s daughter, Maurene Comey, as a federal prosecutor and ordered her reinstated with back pay.
James Comey has said he remains innocent and is not afraid of the people bringing the charges.
For James Comey, the fight now turns on a narrow but crucial legal question about time.
