Judge unseals Justice Department charges accusing James Comey of disclosing national defense information in 2016

A federal judge in Washington on Monday unsealed a criminal case in which the Justice Department charges former FBI Director James B. Comey with communicating national defense information to a person not entitled to receive it. U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden ordered United States v. Comey, No. 1:26-cr-00229, unsealed after Comey asked and the department did not object, writing that charges against a former FBI director over conduct in office are “of significant public interest.”¹

The criminal information was filed under seal Oct. 5, 2026.² It has two counts, Fox News reported: one alleges that on or about Oct. 5, 2016, Comey “knowingly and willfully” communicated national defense information to a person not entitled to receive it, and the other charges him with conspiring with others to disclose it.³ Prosecutors allege Comey directed an unidentified person to pass the information to a reporter, Newsmax reported.⁴

Acting Deputy Attorney General R. Trent McCotter and Associate Deputy Attorney General Aakash Singh filed the information, Law&Crime reported.⁵ It is not a grand jury indictment; the department told the court it “now proceeds solely by waiverless information,” Newsmax reported.⁴ The two counts carry a combined maximum of 20 years in prison, Forbes reported.⁶ Comey has not been convicted and is presumed innocent.

What the government says happened

In an Oct. 23 filing, the department said the case concerns an Oct. 5, 2016, New York Times article on Yahoo’s help with U.S. email surveillance, and that classified information in the article had appeared hours earlier in an internal government email sent to about 30 intelligence community personnel, Newsmax reported.⁴ Prosecutors wrote that Comey “sought to correct misinformation” that Reuters had published the day before and “thereby illegally transferred classified information,” the AP reported.⁷ Those allegations have not been tested in court.

Comey’s response

Comey’s lawyers, including Patrick Fitzgerald, have asked McFadden to dismiss the case as untimely. They argue that the statute of limitations “explicitly demands an indictment within 10 years of the offense” and that an information is not enough, the AP reported.⁷ “Mr. Comey steadfastly maintains his innocence,” Fitzgerald said in a statement to Newsmax. The defense also says two earlier teams of prosecutors examined the same disclosure and both times decided no one should be charged, Newsmax reported.⁴

The department responds that the motion is premature because Comey has not been indicted or appeared in court, and that a general law allowing prosecutors to file an information before an indictment overrides the espionage statute’s indictment requirement, Straight Arrow News reported.⁸ McFadden said he will address the rest of the motion “in due course.”¹

In a video statement, Comey said, “Well, they’re back again,” said he was innocent and said the case “would almost be funny if it weren’t such an appalling abuse of the Department of Justice,” Forbes reported.⁶ A department spokesperson told Fox News that filing an information to stop the statute-of-limitations clock is “a widely recognized practice in federal court.”³

The earlier cases

• A September 2025 false-statement and obstruction indictment in the Eastern District of Virginia was dismissed without prejudice Nov. 24, 2025, after a judge found the interim U.S. attorney who obtained it was unlawfully appointed.⁹ The department appealed; the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments Sept. 15, 2026, Law&Crime reported.¹⁰
• An April 28, 2026, indictment in the Eastern District of North Carolina charges Comey with threatening the president over a social media post.¹¹ His motions to dismiss it were pending as of Oct. 23, Lawfare reported.¹²

What the records do not show

• Prosecutors have not publicly named the person Comey allegedly directed to make the disclosure.⁴
• The unsealing order sets no date for Comey’s first appearance or a hearing.¹
• Whether or when prosecutors will seek a grand jury indictment is unclear, Fox News reported.³