Former FBI Director James Comey has received his third federal indictment, this time for violating the Espionage Act by leaking national defense information to a reporter.
JUSTICE DEPT. HAS CHARGED FORMER FBI DIRECTOR JAMES COMEY AGAIN
— NewsWire (@NewsWire_US) October 26, 2026
BREAKING: Former FBI Director James Comey has been charged with violating the Espionage Act for allegedly directing the disclosure of national defense information to a reporter in 2016. The case is assigned to Judge Trevor McFadden in Washington, D.C. https://t.co/iIPThx9Xr3
— SCOTUS Wire (@scotus_wire) October 26, 2026
Authorities claim that Comey knowingly communicated defense information to an individual who was not entitled to receive it. Comey is also facing a second charge for conspiring with others to violate the Espionage Act.
ALERT: Justice Dept takes a 3rd crack at criminally charging James Comey Here's the two-count charging document in Washington, D.C. federal court which alleges Comey shared national defense info with a journalist in 2016 Comey has already moved to dismiss case, arguing an alleged disclosure to NY Times has twice been probed before & wasn't charged
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) October 26, 2026
The news of the indictment comes just hours after a federal court ruled that the Trump administration had illegally fired Comey’s daughter, former federal prosecutor Maurene Comey. The judge ordered that the government provide Comey with back pay from the time that she was fired until the time that she secured new employment.
Comey’s legal team has already attempted to dismiss the case, claiming that he has been charged “with crimes that he did not commit.”
Comey's attorney Pat Fitzgerald issues a new statement after he was charged again: "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. In September 2025, the Department of Justice used a person who was not actually a United States Attorney to seek an Indictment that was not actually shown to the grand jury. And it charged Mr. Comey with crimes that he did not commit. That case was promptly and properly dismissed. In April 2026, the Department of Justice filed charges in the Eastern District of North Carolina concerning Mr. Comey’s posting of a photograph of seashells spelling '8647.'" We will not comment beyond our filings in that case. 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."
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) October 26, 2026
The case has been assigned to Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump-appointed judge out of Washington, D.C.