The Trump administration is attempting to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey for the third time in little more than a year, according to court documents unsealed on Monday, Oct. 26, 2026. The new allegations involve the unauthorized disclosure of classified information related to a 2016 news report. Comey’s legal team has filed a request to dismiss the action, arguing the case is invalid and falls outside the 10-year statute of limitations for federal indictments.
The case centers on an October 2016 New York Times article regarding a secret court order that required Yahoo to scan emails for potential links to foreign terrorist organizations. The Justice Department alleges that Comey directed staff to speak with a journalist to correct reported inaccuracies, which investigators claim resulted in the illegal transfer of classified information. Previous investigations into this matter by prosecutor John Durham and the U.S. Attorney’s office for the District of Columbia both concluded without criminal charges.
To bypass the 10-year deadline, prosecutors filed a "criminal information" under seal on Oct. 6, 2026. A criminal information is a formal charging document filed by a prosecutor without a grand jury's involvement. While a department spokesperson stated this is a "widely recognized practice" to toll, or pause, the statute of limitations, Comey’s attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald, argued that federal law explicitly requires an indictment by a grand jury within the 10-year window rather than a prosecutor's information.
The scale of the legal conflict involves three distinct criminal cases brought against Comey in approximately one year. The first case, alleging he lied to Congress in 2020, was dismissed by a judge who ruled the prosecutor was appointed illegally. A second pending case involves an indictment for an Instagram photo of seashells arranged as "86 47," which prosecutors allege was a threat against President Trump. For Comey, these cases represent a significant personal and financial burden in legal defense costs; for the Justice Department, the effort involves mobilizing federal resources to litigate a matter previously closed by two separate investigations.
The day-to-day impact for the public involves a test of the "independent federal judiciary" that Comey cited in his Oct. 26 response. If the court accepts the Justice Department's use of a criminal information to toll the statute of limitations, it could expand the window for prosecuting other former government workers for historical leaks. The case also highlights ongoing friction within the Justice Department; on the same day the Comey documents were unsealed, it was reported that a federal judge ruled the department had illegally fired Comey’s daughter, Maurene, from her role as a prosecutor in New York. A judge is currently reviewing the motion to dismiss the new charges, though a specific ruling date was not reported.