Justice Department Files New Charge Against Comey

The Department of Justice filed a criminal information against former FBI Director James Comey on Monday. The filing seeks to extend the statutory time limit for bringing charges related to a classified information leak from October 2016. The documents were unsealed in federal court, revealing a closed-door legal battle that marks a new escalation in the administration's pursuit of the former director.

The specific allegation concerns a New York Times article published in October 2016. The story reported on a secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court order that required Yahoo to scan emails for messages linked to a foreign terrorist organization. Prosecutors stated that investigators found evidence Comey sought to correct misinformation that had appeared in Reuters the day before the New York Times story. They alleged he directed his staff to speak with a journalist regarding accuracy concerns, thereby illegally transferring classified information.

The criminal information was filed under seal on October 6, 2016. This date is exactly ten years after the original article was published. A department spokesperson stated that filing a criminal information to toll the statute of limitations is a widely recognized practice in federal court. The spokesperson noted that multiple Circuit Courts of Appeals have approved this procedure and that the investigation is ongoing.

Comey's legal team rejected the filing as invalid. Patrick Fitzgerald, Comey's attorney, said the department has attempted to charge his client with a federal crime for the third time in little more than one year. Fitzgerald argued that the applicable statute of limitations demands an indictment within 10 years of the offense. He maintained that an information does not suffice for this requirement and that the government is charging Comey with crimes he did not commit.

The matter has been investigated twice previously. Federal authorities, including prosecutor John Durham, began looking into the disclosure in early 2017. Durham wrote a classified memo in December 2018 recommending no criminal charges against anyone. A second investigation opened in January 2019 under the code name Tropical Vortex closed without charges in February 2020. Fitzgerald noted that both times the government determined no charges should be brought.

Comey responded to the news in a video statement on Monday. He said, “Well, they’re back, again.” He described the effort as an appalling abuse of the Department of Justice that they cannot become numb to. Comey stated, “I’m still innocent, I’m still not afraid of these people, and I still believe in an independent federal judiciary.”

This case is part of a series of politically charged investigative actions by the department in the run-up to next week's midterm elections. It is the third criminal matter involving Comey since Donald Trump returned to the White House last year. A previous case in Virginia was dismissed because the prosecutor was illegally appointed. A separate pending indictment charges Comey with threatening Trump through an Instagram photo of seashells arranged to read 86 47.

Comey has asked a judge to dismiss the new information, and that request is still pending. The former director served as FBI head from 2013 to 2017. He was appointed by Barack Obama and fired by Trump in May 2017 amid a Russia investigation. Trump fired Comey after the former director resisted a request to pledge personal loyalty during a private dinner.