Justice Department Files New Charge Against James Comey Over 2016 Leak
Lawyers for the former FBI director argue the filing is invalid because it bypasses a grand jury and relies on a disputed extension of the statute of limitations.
By Gabriela Ivanov ·
Former FBI Director James Comey faces a new federal criminal charge for leaking classified information in 2016. The Justice Department filed a criminal information on Monday to extend the 10 year statute of limitations. Comey’s legal team immediately challenged the move, stating the filing is outside the legal time limit for prosecution.
The government alleges Comey helped authorize a secret court order that required Yahoo to scan emails for messages linked to a foreign terrorist organization. In October 2016, The New York Times reported on this order, citing two anonymous government officials. Comey’s attorneys argue the department has already investigated this specific disclosure twice without bringing charges.
The first investigation began in early 2017 under Special Counsel John Durham. Durham recommended no criminal charges in a classified memo written in December 2018. A second inquiry opened in January 2019 under the code name Tropical Vortex but closed in February 2020 without an indictment. Patrick Fitzgerald, Comey’s attorney, said the government is now attempting to charge Comey for crimes he did not commit after previously determining no charges were warranted.
The Justice Department defended the filing by saying it is a standard practice to toll the statute of limitations. A department spokesperson noted that multiple Circuit Courts of Appeals have approved this procedure in federal cases. The department described the matter as an ongoing criminal investigation and declined to provide further comment.
A criminal information is typically filed with a defendant's consent as part of a plea deal. Comey’s lawyers intend to fight the charges as invalid because the document was not approved by a judge or issued by a grand jury. This is the third time in a little more than a year that the department has attempted to charge Comey with a federal crime.
Comey has faced two other criminal cases since President Trump returned to the White House. The first case was dismissed because the judge found the prosecutor was illegally appointed. In April, Comey was charged over a social media post depicting seashells that officials claimed constituted a threat against the president. He remains a prominent critic of the administration, having been fired by Trump in May 2017 during the Russia investigation.
