Comey's legal team seeks to end third federal prosecution before statute expires

Attorneys for former FBI Director James Comey appear in federal court in Washington, D.C., on Friday to request the dismissal of criminal charges brought by the Justice Department. The legal team argues that prosecutors failed to secure a grand jury indictment before a 10-year statute of limitations expired regarding alleged conduct from more than a decade ago.

This marks the third known attempt by federal prosecutors to charge Comey in a 13-month period. The current case centers on an allegation that Comey mishandled classified information by directing FBI staff to speak with a New York Times reporter. Prosecutors filed the charges via a criminal information, a legal tool that does not require grand jury approval, under seal on Oct. 5.

The details of the dispute became public on Monday after D.C. District Judge Trevor McFadden unsealed court records at the request of Comey’s legal team. McFadden is an appointee of President Donald Trump, who previously issued a public demand that the Justice Department act now to prosecute Comey and other political opponents.

According to unsealed filings, prosecutors allege that Comey sought to correct misinformation published by Reuters on Oct. 4, 2016. A New York Times article published the following day reported that Yahoo had aided U.S. email surveillance by adapting a spam filter. The original Reuters story claimed that Yahoo secretly built custom software to search customer emails for information provided by U.S. intelligence officials.

Prosecutors wrote that Comey directed staff to discuss specific accuracy concerns with the reporter, thereby illegally transferring classified information. The government stated that its investigation uncovered evidence that Comey intended to fix errors in the press coverage regarding the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court order.

Comey faces other legal challenges as well. He was indicted in North Carolina on April 28 over an Instagram post from last year that prosecutors characterized as a threat against the president. The post displayed the numbers 86 47 written in seashells, a phrase interpreted to mean getting rid of Trump. Comey removed the post shortly after publishing it and is scheduled to return to court in January for that case.

In September 2025, Comey was indicted on charges of making a false statement and obstruction related to his 2020 Senate testimony. That case was dismissed after the court ruled that the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney who brought the charges was improperly appointed.