Justice Department Files Third Set of Espionage Act Charges Against Former FBI Director James Comey Over 2016 Classified Leak
What happened
Federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C., unsealed a criminal information charging former FBI Director James Comey with two counts of transmitting and conspiring to transmit national defense information related to an alleged 2016 leak.
The Context
* The alleged leak: Prosecutors state that in October 2016, Comey authorized FBI staff to share classified email surveillance methods with a New York Times reporter to counter a separate news report. * The procedural maneuver: The Department of Justice filed via a criminal information rather than an indictment on October 5, 2026, aiming to toll the statutory deadline on the decade-old event. * The defense response: Comey's legal team has filed a motion to dismiss, asserting that the information filing fails to beat the statute of limitations.
The Number
— The Espionage Act's statute of limitations window, which drove prosecutors to file the charging document exactly on its final eligible day.
Takeaway
Expect early procedural battles over the statute of limitations to determine whether this third federal filing reaches an evidentiary hearing.
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