Former FBI Director James Comey is facing a third criminal case brought by the Justice Department under President Donald Trump, after federal prosecutors unsealed a charging document on Monday, October 26, 2026, accusing him of transmitting national defence information and conspiring to do so in October 2016. The James Comey third criminal case arrives just eight days before the November 3 midterm elections, and it immediately reopened a fierce argument over whether the Justice Department is pursuing legitimate national-security enforcement or using criminal charges as a political weapon against one of the president's most prominent critics.
The case was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, not as an indictment returned by a grand jury, but as a criminal information filed directly by prosecutors. That procedural choice is now at the centre of the legal fight, because Comey's lawyers have already moved to have the case thrown out, arguing that the charges are time-barred and were brought in an improper form. Comey himself responded within hours in a video posted online, denying any wrongdoing and vowing to fight the prosecution in court, just as he has fought the two earlier cases brought against him during Trump's second term.
Court documents made public on Monday accuse the former FBI director of sharing sensitive national defence information with a person not entitled to receive it, and of directing someone else to share sensitive information with a news outlet. The documents do not publicly identify precisely what information was allegedly shared or name every person involved, and they describe the alleged disclosure in general terms tied to reporting published in October 2016, when Comey was leading the FBI under President Barack Obama.
Prosecutors say the timing of the filing mattered. The criminal information was lodged under seal on October 5, the date on which, in the department's view, the ten-year statute of limitations would otherwise have run out. By filing before that deadline, prosecutors say they preserved the case. The document remained sealed for three weeks and was only made public on October 26, after Comey's legal team asked for it to be unsealed.
The distinction between a criminal information and an indictment is now central. An indictment is returned by a grand jury; a criminal information is filed by prosecutors themselves. Comey's lawyers argue that using an information in this way, years after the alleged events, makes the prosecution legally improper — an argument expected to be tested first, before any trial on the facts.
The James Comey third criminal case rests on events from the final weeks of the 2016 presidential election campaign, a period when the FBI director was already one of the most scrutinised officials in Washington. According to reporting on the court filings, prosecutors allege that Comey directed an unnamed intermediary to speak with New York Times reporter Charlie Savage about material that carried a classified flag, in connection with a Times article published on October 5, 2016. The charges invoke rarely used Espionage Act provisions against a senior former official, provisions that criminalise the wilful communication of national defence information to unauthorised recipients.
What the public record does not yet show is the content of the information at issue or how prosecutors intend to prove Comey knew the disclosure was unlawful. Those gaps are normal at the charging stage, but they mean the strongest claims in the case remain untested — and Espionage Act cases against former senior officials tend to turn on exactly these questions of content, intent and recipient.
Comey's defence has already signalled its central theme: his lawyer, Patrick Fitzgerald, said the government had investigated the matter twice before and on both occasions decided that no charges should be brought against anyone.
To understand the reaction, retrace the history between Comey and Trump. Comey was fired by Trump during the president's first term, in May 2017, while the FBI was investigating links between Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia. Trump has viewed Comey as a foe ever since.
During Trump's second term, the Justice Department has now pursued Comey three times. The first case, accusing him of lying to Congress about media leaks, was dismissed after a judge found the prosecutor who brought it had been unlawfully appointed. The second, still pending, alleges Comey threatened the president by posting a photograph of seashells arranged to read "8647," which Comey denies intending as a threat.
The third case landed on the same day a federal judge ruled the department had unlawfully fired Comey's daughter, Maurene Comey, a former Manhattan federal prosecutor, ordering her retroactive reinstatement with back pay and retirement benefits. That coincidence has fuelled claims from Comey's supporters that the prosecutions are retaliatory, a charge the department rejects.
Comey responded to the new charges in a video statement posted to Instagram, striking a defiant tone that echoed his responses to the earlier cases. "Well they're back, again," he said. "It would almost be funny if it were not such an appalling abuse of the Department of Justice, one we cannot become numb to." He added: "Nothing's changed with me, I'm still innocent, I'm still not afraid of these people." He closed by urging supporters to keep faith in the American system, including its independent judiciary, saying: "It's really important that we stand straight and keep the faith in America."
His lawyer, Patrick Fitzgerald, said the charging document "purports to charge Mr. Comey with crimes that he did not commit."
The Justice Department defended the way the case was filed. "The Department filed a waiverless criminal information to toll the statute of limitations as it relates to allegations concerning former FBI Director Comey," the department said. "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." It added: "This is an ongoing criminal investigation, and we will not comment further."
Outside the courtroom, the reaction split along familiar lines. Critics described the case as the latest step in a campaign to use the Justice Department against political opponents, pointing to the dismissal of the first case and the timing so close to the midterms. Supporters argue no former official should be above the law, and that the alleged disclosure of classified-flagged material, if proven, is a serious offence regardless of politics.
The significance of this case goes well beyond one former FBI director. First, it tests the boundaries of the Espionage Act, a century-old statute written for spies and saboteurs that has rarely been aimed at senior former officials for conversations with journalists. How courts handle the statute-of-limitations and criminal-information questions here could shape how future leak investigations are brought.
Second, the case lands in the final stretch of a midterm campaign in which the independence of the Justice Department is itself a central issue. Voters go to the polls on November 3, and a former FBI director facing a third prosecution — with one case already dismissed over an unlawfully appointed prosecutor — is certain to feature in campaign arguments on both sides.
Third, the case raises a practical question for the department itself. If the courts dismiss this prosecution as well, the administration will have pursued its most prominent critic three times without a conviction.
The immediate next step is the defence motion to dismiss, in which Comey's lawyers will argue the charges are time-barred and improperly brought by information rather than indictment. The judge will have to decide whether the October 5 filing validly preserved the case, and whether prosecutors must now seek a grand jury indictment. That decision could take weeks, and either side could appeal, stretching the timeline well beyond the midterms.
If the case survives, prosecutors would then have to prove the substance: that Comey knowingly transmitted national defence information, or conspired to do so, to people not entitled to receive it. Meanwhile, the second case over the seashells photograph remains pending.
What is James Comey charged with in the third case? He is charged with knowingly communicating national defence information and conspiring to do so, under 18 U.S.C. sections 793(d) and 793(g), based on alleged disclosures in October 2016 tied to a New York Times article.
Why was the case filed as a criminal information rather than an indictment? Prosecutors say they filed the information on October 5, 2026, to stop the ten-year statute of limitations from expiring. Comey's lawyers dispute that approach and have moved to dismiss the case as time-barred and improperly filed.
What did James Comey say about the new charges? In a video statement, he said he was still innocent and not afraid, calling the prosecution an appalling abuse of the Justice Department that Americans cannot become numb to.
What happened to the first two cases against Comey? The first case, accusing him of lying to Congress, was dismissed after a judge found the prosecutor was unlawfully appointed. The second case, over a social media photograph of seashells reading "8647," remains pending.
How does this case relate to the November 3 midterms? The charges were unsealed on October 26, eight days before the midterms, and the independence of the Justice Department is a major campaign issue, so the case is certain to feature in election arguments on both sides.
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