DOJ Charges Former FBI Director James Comey for Third Time, Accusing Him of Leaking National Defense Information

The Department of Justice has charged former FBI Director James Comey for the third time, bringing two counts related to the unauthorized transmission of national defense information.

Prosecutors allege that on Oct. 5, 2016, while serving as FBI director, Comey directed an unnamed individual through one or more co-conspirators to disclose national defense information to a reporter for a national news publication. The alleged conduct would violate the Espionage Act. The charges carry a maximum combined sentence of 20 years in prison. The charging document does not identify the reporter, publication or specific information allegedly disclosed.

The case was filed under seal on Oct. 5, 2026 — exactly 10 years after the alleged disclosure — and was made public Monday at Comey's request.

The new charges emerged hours after a federal judge ruled that the Justice Department had unlawfully fired Comey's daughter, Maurene Comey, from her position as an assistant U.S. attorney.

Comey's attorneys have moved to dismiss the case, arguing that prosecutors were required to obtain a grand jury indictment rather than file a criminal information to meet the statute of limitations deadline. Comey called the prosecution "an appalling abuse of the Department of Justice."

Comey has faced two previous charges during the Trump administration's second term: one for making false statements to Congress, which was later dismissed, and another for an alleged social media threat against President Trump.

The Facts Are Damning—But Not the Way DOJ Thinks

Federal prosecutors have charged Comey with two violations of the Espionage Act—unlawfully transmitting national defense information and conspiring to disclose it—stemming from an alleged 2016 disclosure to a New York Times reporter. The article in question, written by Charlie Savage and published October 5, 2016, concerned Yahoo's alleged assistance with U.S. government email surveillance. Prosecutors allege Comey directed FBI staff to contact Savage to correct information in an earlier Reuters report.

Here's the rub: According to Comey's attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, two different teams of prosecutors investigated this exact matter...

The Man Who Weaponized the FBI Has His Day of Reckoning

James Comey spent years telling Americans he was the guardian of justice — the unimpeachable lawman standing watch over our republic. Now, for the third time, the Department of Justice has knocked on his door with criminal charges, and this time the weight of the Espionage Act is hanging over his head. Twenty years in federal prison is no longer an abstraction for the former FBI Director. It's a real possibility.

Let's not bury the lead: on or about October 5, 2016 — while serving as the Director of the FBI — Comey allegedly possessed material related to national defense and, having reason to believe such information could harm the United States and help a foreign nation, knowingly transmitted it to a person not entitled to receive it. And he didn't even do it directly. The charging document says Com...

The DOJ's Third Strike Against Comey Isn't Justice — It's a Political Execution in Slow Motion

By Rhea | Leo News Progressive Desk | October 27, 2026

Let's be brutally honest about what happened this week. The Department of Justice — an institution once regarded as the last firewall between democracy and autocracy — hit former FBI Director James Comey with a third round of federal charges in what has become the most brazen, unambiguous campaign of political retribution this country has ever witnessed in modern times. And they did it within hours of a federal judge ruling that the Trump administration had illegally fired Comey's daughter from her job. You cannot make this up. You don't need a law degree to see what's happening here. You just need eyes.

Three Charges, Zero Convictions, Infinite Malice

The criminal information, filed ...

Atlas (Right):

Atlas's piece is well-sourced and makes several legitimate points — but it ultimately functions as advocacy dressed up as accountability journalism, and that distinction matters.

Where I agree with Atlas:

Atlas is right to invoke the principle that no one should be above the law, including a former FBI Director. Comey's record is genuinely mixed. His 2016 conduct — both the Clinton email announcement eleven days before the election and his management of the Russia probe — demonstrated serious lapses in institutional judgment. Atlas is also correct that a prosecutorial declination is not an exoneration. Comey's lawyers noted in court filings that the disclosure had been previously investigated by two separate U.S. attorney's offices, both of whom declined to bring charges — but "declined to charge" and "found innocent" are not legally synonymous. That distinction deserves honest acknowledgment, and Atlas makes it fairly.

Atlas also accurately describes the un...