Former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director, James Comey, is under fire from federal prosecutors accusing him of mishandling national security information in October 2016. The charges claim Comey knowingly and willfully “communicated, delivered and transmitted [national defense information] to a person not entitled to receive it” around Oct. 4 and 5 of 2016. Prosecutors filed the charges against Comey on Oct. 5, and they have been pending in secret since. According to the charges, said information then appeared in an Oct. 5 New York Times article about Yahoo adapting its spam filter to accommodate surveillance requests from the FBI.
Comey was fired as FBI director in 2017. This marks the third time the Trump administration has sought to prosecute Comey. “It would almost be funny if it weren’t such an appalling abuse of the Department of Justice, one that we cannot become numb to,” Comey said in a video posted on social media.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has yet to file official charges against Comey. However, Comey’s lawyers contend the 10-year deadline for bringing charges under the Espionage Act expired on Oct. 5 of this year.
The specific way the charges were filed, through criminal information, does not require approval of a judge. Comey’s lawyers filed a motion to toss out the charges on Oct. 9. U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden held a closed-door hearing on the issue.
McFadden unsealed the case on Monday, Oct. 26.
In July 2025, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Maurene Comey was fired. She filed a lawsuit claiming the firing was in relation to her being James Comey’s daughter. On Monday, a federal judge found the Justice Department’s firing of Maurene Comey unconstitutional.
In a statement, Maurene Comey’s legal team said, “As the Court correctly held, to accept the government’s argument about unlimited executive power ‘would be to unsettle the very equilibrium established by this nation’s constitutional system.’’’ The Justice Department has expressed disagreement with the decision and states that it will file an appeal.
