The United States Justice Department has brought a third criminal case against former FBI Director James Comey, according to court filings unsealed on Monday, October 26, 2026. The new case centres on allegations from a decade ago, when Comey led the Federal Bureau of Investigation, that he directed the disclosure of sensitive national defence information to a reporter.
The filings, made in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, contain two counts: disclosing sensitive national defence information to someone not entitled to receive it, and conspiring to do so. The alleged conduct dates to October 4 and 5, 2016.
Comey has denied the allegations. In a video posted online on Monday, he said he remained innocent and was not afraid, describing the prosecution as an abuse of the Justice Department.
What prosecutors allege
According to the charging documents, the case relates to an article published in The New York Times on October 5, 2016, about United States email surveillance. Prosecutors allege that Comey directed FBI staff to speak to a Times reporter about the subject of that article, and that in doing so sensitive information was transferred unlawfully.
Reports of the filings say prosecutors contend Comey sought to correct information in a Reuters article from the previous day. The court documents contain few details about exactly what information was allegedly shared. The Justice Department has said the case remains under investigation, and that the filing was made to preserve the ability to bring charges under the Espionage Act, whose ten-year limitation period expired earlier in October.
A dispute over procedure
A central question in the new case is procedural, and a judge will have to decide it. The charges were brought in the form of a criminal information, a document filed by prosecutors without first seeking an indictment from a grand jury. The department says it filed a waiverless criminal information to pause, or toll, the statute of limitations so that prosecutors can seek an indictment.
The department has described that practice as widely recognised in federal court and approved by multiple federal appeals courts. Comey’s lawyers, by contrast, argue that an indictment was required within ten years and that the information filed by prosecutors does not satisfy that requirement.
Reports of the case also note a further complication: the Justice Department has said the information itself is not enforceable as a final charge, and that official charges have not yet been filed. That means the immediate legal fight is likely to focus first on whether the filing was valid at all, before any trial on the underlying allegations.
Comey’s lawyers have said the same episode was previously investigated without charges being brought. According to reports, his legal team says two separate United States attorneys previously examined the matter and declined to prosecute.
Why this is the third case
The new filing is the third criminal case brought against Comey during President Donald Trump’s second term, according to multiple reports. Comey, who was appointed FBI director by President Barack Obama and dismissed by Trump in May 2017, has become a prominent critic of the president.
The first case, brought earlier in 2025, accused Comey of lying to Congress. A judge dismissed that case. The second case, which remains ongoing, alleges that Comey threatened harm to the president by sharing an image of seashells arranged to read “8647” on social media, according to reports of that case.
Trump fired Comey in 2017 while Comey was overseeing the early stages of an investigation into alleged ties between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia. The latest filing was unsealed a week before the United States midterm elections. The Wall Street Journal reported that the timing comes as Trump and his allies have increased pressure on the Justice Department to act against people they regard as adversaries. The department has not commented on any political considerations.
A separate ruling on the same day
On the same day the new filings were unsealed, a judge ruled that the Justice Department’s 2025 dismissal of Comey’s daughter, Maurene Comey, had been unlawful, according to reports. Maurene Comey had served as a federal prosecutor in Manhattan, where she worked on cases including those against Ghislaine Maxwell, an associate of Jeffrey Epstein, and music executive Sean Combs.
What happens next
For now, the new case is at an early and contested stage. A judge must first decide whether the Justice Department’s filing, made after the ten-year period expired, can stand. If it does, prosecutors would still need to seek an indictment before the case could proceed to trial. If it does not, the case could end before the underlying allegations are tested in court.
Comey has said he will contest the charges, and the Justice Department has said it will not comment further while the investigation continues.