Justice Department Targets James Comey Again

The Department of Justice has filed a legal motion to restart its pursuit of James Comey, the former FBI director. The agency claims the move extends the time limit for bringing a criminal case against him for a leak of classified information that occurred ten years ago. Comey’s legal team has rejected the filing, arguing it falls outside the standard ten-year window for such charges.

The new documents were unsealed on Monday, revealing a closed-door dispute that marks a sharper escalation in the administration’s legal actions against Comey. He has faced two other criminal cases since President Donald Trump returned to the White House last year. This latest effort coincides with a series of politically sensitive investigations conducted by the Justice Department ahead of next week’s midterm elections.

Comey addressed the development in a video statement released after the documents became public. “Well, they’re back, again,” he said. He described the action as “an appalling abuse of the Department of Justice” and maintained that he is “still innocent” and “not afraid of these people.” He expressed continued confidence in an independent federal judiciary.

The Justice Department stated it filed a document known as a criminal information. This type of filing is used to stop the statute of limitations clock from running. A department spokesperson noted that this practice is widely recognized in federal courts and has been approved by multiple Circuit Courts of Appeals. The spokesperson added that the investigation remains ongoing.

However, legal experts note that criminal informations are typically filed with a defendant’s consent as part of a plea deal. Comey’s attorneys argue that because he has not consented, the charges are invalid. Patrick Fitzgerald, his attorney, stated that this is the third time in just over one year that the Justice Department has attempted to charge Comey with a federal crime.

The underlying allegation involves an October 2016 New York Times article. The story reported on a secret court order requiring Yahoo to scan emails for messages linked to a foreign terrorist organization. Two anonymous government officials disclosed the existence of the order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which had barred Yahoo from publicizing the matter. Federal authorities began investigating the FBI’s disclosure to the newspaper in early 2017.

Prior investigations into the same incident concluded without charges. A classified memo from then-Special Counsel John Durham in December 2018 recommended against criminal charges. A second investigation, codenamed Tropical Vortex, opened in January 2019 and closed in February 2020 without any filings. Fitzgerald’s statement highlighted that the government had previously determined no charges were necessary, only to file this new information ten years later without judicial or grand jury approval.

Comey’s relationship with the Trump administration has been strained since his appointment by President Barack Obama in 2017. Trump fired Comey in May 2017 during an FBI investigation into Russian ties to the campaign. The current legal dispute adds a new layer to that history, with Comey’s lawyers preparing to fight the new filing in court.