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Federal prosecutors have accused former FBI Director James Comey of directing an associate to disclose national defense information to a New York Times reporter in October 2016. The criminal information filed in Washington federal court charges him with one count of transmitting such information and a second count of conspiracy under the Espionage Act. According to the filing the action was taken to correct misinformation that had appeared in a Reuters report the day before the New York Times article ran and prosecutors acted on the final day before the 10-year statute of limitations expired.
The case centers on a New York Times story published October 5 2016 by reporter Charlie Savage that detailed how Yahoo had adapted its email systems to comply with a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court order targeting potential terrorist signatures. A Reuters report indicated that Comey through one or more co-conspirators instructed an FBI staff member identified only as Individual 1 to speak with Savage about accuracy concerns in the earlier reporting. Court documents reviewed by NPR show the government filed the information under seal on October 5 before its public unsealing prompted an immediate motion to dismiss from Comey’s legal team.
Comey’s attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said in a statement that the allegations had been examined by two separate teams of federal prosecutors who both declined to bring charges. Fitzgerald told PBS News that the first review occurred shortly after the article appeared while a second investigation dubbed Tropical Vortex opened in January 2019 and closed without action in February 2020. The defense filing argues that the use of a criminal information rather than a grand jury indictment fails to meet statutory requirements and that the matter should be thrown out immediately.
This marks the third time the Justice Department has pursued federal charges against Comey since President Trump returned to office in January 2025. A September 2025 indictment accusing him of lying to Congress and obstructing a proceeding was dismissed the following November after a judge ruled the interim prosecutor had been unlawfully appointed according to multiple outlets including The Washington Post. Comey separately faces pending charges filed in April 2026 in North Carolina over an Instagram photograph of seashells arranged to read 86 47 which prosecutors interpreted as a threat to the president’s life.
In a video response posted shortly after the unsealing Comey said they are back again and described the effort as an appalling abuse of the Department of Justice. “Nothing’s changed with me. I’m still innocent. I’m still not afraid of these people and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary” Comey stated. He added that the next couple of years are going to be hard for all of us and urged people to stand straight and keep faith in America.
The Justice Department confirmed in a statement that filing a criminal information to toll the statute of limitations is a widely recognized practice approved by multiple circuit courts of appeal. A Washington Post assessment found the latest action escalates the administration’s focus on Comey who oversaw the FBI’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election before his dismissal in 2017. Comey has denied all wrongdoing across the three cases and his lawyers maintain that the repeated prosecutions lack merit.
