DOJ and Comey’s lawyers to face off in court today over latest attempt to charge him
Former FBI Director James Comey will be back in a federal courtroom on Friday, as his legal team prepares to argue in favor of dismissing the Justice Department’s latest attempt to bring criminal charges against the Trump foe for allegedly leaking classified information.
Prosecutors are seeking to charge Comey for a third time, alleging he violated the Espionage Act by transmitting national defense information to someone not legally allowed to receive it in connection with a 2016 New York Times article.
Comey has not been formally charged by criminal complaint or indicted by a federal grand jury in the Espionage Act case. Instead, in an uncommon maneuver, federal prosecutors filed a criminal information earlier this month, which does not require approval by a grand jury or a finding by a magistrate judge that there is probable cause a crime was committed. The Justice Department said it took that step to preserve the government’s case before a 10-year statute of limitations runs out.
Comey’s legal team said in a statement after the filings were unsealed Monday that Comey “steadfastly maintains his innocence.”
In court filings that were made public earlier this week, Comey’s lawyers said the alleged disclosure of classified information — which took place on Oct. 5, 2016 — was investigated by two separate U.S. attorneys’ offices, both of which declined to bring charges. His team also asked for the case to be dismissed, calling the criminal information “faulty.”
“The criminal information charging Mr. Comey should be dismissed as time barred,” Comey’s legal team wrote in early October, arguing that the statute of limitations has expired. The government’s criminal information, they argue, “does not meet the express statutory requirements for an extended ten-year limitations period,” and the charges must be dismissed.
After an emergency hearing earlier this month, the Justice Department agreed not to seek an indictment for 30 days, Comey’s attorneys wrote in court filings.
The Justice Department argued in court filings that Comey’s attempt to dismiss the criminal information was untimely because no indictment has been returned against him, and thus “there is no indictment to be dismissed.”
The government also argued that the statute of limitations has not expired in the case because the underlying allegations of espionage carry a 10-year statute of limitations. Justice Department lawyers said the information “is a charge that, by rule, may substitute in place of the indictment in a felony case.”
It is the third time in over a year that the Justice Department has attempted to charge Comey.
In September 2025, he was indicted for lying to Congress. A judge later dismissed the charges on the grounds that the Trump-appointed prosecutor who oversaw them was unlawfully appointed.
And earlier this year, he was charged with threatening President Trump in a social media post of a photo of seashells arranged to say “86 47.”
Lawyers for Comey — whom Mr. Trump fired as FBI director almost a decade ago — have argued the charges against him are politically motivated, and asked a judge to toss out the threats case on the grounds of selective and vindictive prosecution. The North Carolina judge overseeing that case has not yet ruled on those motions.
