Comey Team Seeks Dismissal of Third Criminal Case

Lawyers for former FBI Director James Comey appeared in federal court in Washington, D.C., on Friday to challenge the latest criminal charges filed against him. The legal team asked Judge Trevor McFadden to dismiss the case because the Justice Department did not obtain a grand jury indictment before a statute of limitations expired.

The government filed the new allegations using a criminal information, a legal document that bypasses the requirement for a grand jury vote. Prosecutors submitted this filing under seal on Oct. 5. McFadden, a judge appointed by President Donald Trump, ordered the details of the dispute to be made public on Monday at the request of Comey’s defense team.

The charges center on events from October 2016. Prosecutors allege that Comey directed FBI staff to share classified information with a reporter for The New York Times. The goal was to correct misinformation in a Reuters story about Yahoo’s role in U.S. email surveillance. The New York Times published an article on Oct. 5, 2016, titled "Yahoo Said to Have Aided U.S. Email Surveillance by Adapting Spam Filter."

In their response to the motion to dismiss, prosecutors wrote that Comey sought to fix errors in the Reuters report. They stated that he directed staff to discuss specific accuracy concerns with the Times reporter, which they claim constitutes an illegal transfer of classified information.

This marks the third time in 13 months that federal prosecutors have attempted to bring charges against Comey. These efforts followed President Trump’s public call for the Justice Department to act immediately to prosecute political opponents.

Comey faces two other active or recent indictments. In September 2025, he was charged with making a false statement and obstruction of justice related to his 2020 Senate Judiciary Committee testimony. That case was dismissed because the U.S. attorney who filed it was improperly appointed. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment before the dismissal.

A separate indictment was filed in North Carolina on April 28. Prosecutors in that case allege Comey made a threat against the president through an Instagram post. The post showed the numbers 86 and 47 written in seashells, a combination often interpreted as a command to remove Trump. Comey deleted the post shortly after publishing it, explaining that he did not realize the numbers carried violent connotations. His next court date in that matter is scheduled for January.