James Comey charged with leaking national defense information
Former FBI Director James Comey has been charged with unlawfully sharing national defense information and conspiring to leak it to a reporter, according to a federal court filing. He denied wrongdoing and called the prosecution an “appalling abuse” of the Justice Department.
The two-count criminal information was filed in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. It concerns an alleged disclosure of information on October 5, 2016, when he was leading the FBI.
The first count alleges that he knowingly transmitted national defense information to someone who was not authorized to receive it on October 5, 2016. Federal prosecutors allege he had lawful access to the information and reason to believe it could harm the United States and benefit a foreign nation.
The second count alleges that, through one or more co-conspirators, he directed a person identified only as “Individual #1” to disclose national defense information to a reporter for a national news publication.
The document does not identify the information, the reporter, the publication or the alleged intermediaries.
“Well, they’re back again. 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 response.
“Nothing’s changed with me. I’m still innocent. I’m still not afraid of these people, and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary,” he said.
He said his lawyers would fight the latest case and “whatever comes after this,” adding: “The next couple years are going to be hard for all of us. It’s really important that we stand straight and keep the faith in America.”
The former FBI director was previously indicted in Virginia in September 2025 on charges of making a false statement and obstructing Congress. That case was related to his September 2020 testimony about whether he had authorized someone at the FBI to act as an anonymous source for news reports.
Those charges followed President Donald Trump’s public demand that then-Attorney General Pam Bondi take action against Comey and other adversaries.
A judge dismissed the indictment on November 24, 2025, after finding that Lindsey Halligan, the interim U.S. attorney who secured it, had been unlawfully appointed. The Justice Department has appealed.
A separate indictment returned in North Carolina in April charged the former director with threatening Trump and transmitting a threat in interstate commerce. That case concerns a May 2025 Instagram photograph showing seashells arranged to form “86 47,” which prosecutors allege constituted a threat against the president.
He pleaded not guilty in both earlier cases and has described the prosecutions as vindictive and motivated by Trump’s animosity.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
