The third time, as the saying goes, is a charm.
Today, a federal judge unsealed the latest case against James Comey, the disgraced, corrupt, and odious former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations. (Comey asked for the case to be unsealed today.) Top officials at the Department of Justice signed what’s called an “information” containing two espionage charges related to Comey’s sharing of national defense material with a reporter in October 2016. (The information, which can predate a criminal indictment, can be found here.)
The gist of the case revolves around an October 5, 2016 article in the New York Times (of course) disclosing an order issued by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that required Yahoo to search all incoming email traffic for a digital signature allegedly tied to an unnamed terrorist organization. According to the DOJ, Comey directed “staff” to share classified information about the matter with Times reporter Charlie Savage in order to allegedly clarify inaccurate coverage of the Yahoo case published a day earlier in Reuters. (That report can be found here.)
It’s unclear why Comey was so invested in correcting the record at the time; ironically, a few weeks after the Times published the FISA-related article, Comey submitted the first of four applications to the FISA court to spy on Trump campaign advisor Carter Page. (I posted some of my thoughts here on X.) The timing of the leak is further interesting since it happened at the same time Comey was under fire for refusing to bring charges against Hillary Clinton for her illicit email server.
It appears the DOJ filed the latest charges just under the wire; top DOJ officials argue the crime of espionage carries a ten-year statute of limitations even if the ultimate charging tool is an information, not an indictment. Comey is asking D.C. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee but no ally of the president, to dismiss the information claiming the ten-year statute of limitations only applies to a criminal indictment. (Comey’s motion to dismiss can be found here. The DOJ’s response, with more details on the case, can be found here.)
Comey, per usual, played the victim:
One of Comey’s defense attorneys, Patrick Fitzgerald—who is implicated in Comey’s infamous leak operation related to his sharing his memos documenting private conversations with President Trump with a NYT reporter in 2017—gave this statement in response to the new charges:
“For the third time in little more than one year, the Department of Justice has attempted to charge Mr. Comey with a federal crime. Mr. Comey steadfastly maintains his innocence. This most recent case involves an October 5, 2016 New York Times article that two different teams of prosecutors investigated during the first Trump administration. Both times the Government determined that no charges should be brought against anyone. Now, ten years after the article was published, the Government filed an 'Information' against Mr. Comey that was not approved by a judge nor issued by a grand jury. It purports to charge Mr. Comey with crimes that he did not commit. We are gratified that United States District Judge Trevor McFadden has ordered this matter unsealed. Mr. Comey will fight these charges vigorously and in the open."
According to Fitzgerald’s filings in the case, both US Attorney for the District of Connecticut John Durham (before he was appointed special counsel) and US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jesse Liu—who worked hand in glove with Special Counsel Robert Mueller to bring charges against Trump associates including Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, and Michael Flynn—declined to prosecute Comey for the Oct. 2016 leak to the Times. Former FBI general counsel Jim Baker appears to once again have acted as Comey’s leak cut-out.
No One is Above the Law!
This is the third time the DOJ has filed charges against Comey. In September 2025, a grand jury in Virginia indicted Comey on two counts of making false statements and obstructing Congress related to his 2020 testimony before the Senate. A Clinton-appointed judge dismissed the case a few months later after concluding acting U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan, who secured the indictment, was unlawfully appointed. The DOJ has appealed the ruling; oral arguments were heard last month but no decision yet.
In April, a North Carolina grand jury indicted Comey for making threats against the president in the so-called “seashell” case. (My coverage can be found here.) Fitzgerald filed a motion to dismiss the case in July based on selective and vindictive prosecution; the matter is pending before Judge Louise Flanagan.
The news of Comey’s espionage charges came on the same day an Obama-appointed judge in New York determined the DOJ’s firing of Maurene Comey, his daughter, was illegal. Judge Jesse Furman determined that Maurene Comey’s dismissal in 2025 by then Attorney General Pam Bondi “unsettle[d] the very equilibrium established by this Nation’s constitutional system.” (His full opinion can be found here.) That decision undoubtedly will be appealed by the administration.
But for now, it’s gratifying to see Comey—who opened Crossfire Hurricane in 2016, misled a secret terror court, ambushed the incoming president with lies about Russian prostitutes right before Trump took office, set up General Michael Flynn, leaked classified memos to the media, lied to Congress, and pushed for criminal charges against Trump and January 6 protesters among other chicanery—on the ropes.
Again.
Comey, the most corrupt FBI director ever, wanting the documents unsealed apparently wants his cased tried in the media. He thinks he can beat Trump and the DOJ with lies and deceit with the help of CNN and MS NOW. Hopefully DOJ has fool proof evidence for a conviction even by a biased DC jury. We can only hope for a guilty verdict and he is held accountable. We can also hope this backfires on the media and all their propaganda.
May the whole cabal of protectors of his slimy ways and maneuvering - and his daughter’s - be exposed by real truth seekers. May the facts be revealed and examined!!! They can have their SPIN, but their ACTIONS should be tested in context of what is lawful —or not.