Comey faces third federal charge

Federal prosecutors filed a third criminal case against former FBI Director James Comey on Monday, accusing him of transmitting national defense information and conspiring to do so.

The new charges stem from a New York Times article published on October 5, 2016. The piece, written by Charlie Savage, reported that Yahoo helped adapt its spam filter to assist U.S. surveillance of emails.

Assistant Special Federal Prosecutor Dustin Farahnak stated in a declassified document that the government found evidence Comey attempted to correct erroneous information that had appeared via Reuters the day before the Times publication.

According to the prosecutor, Comey instructed his staff to speak with Savage about specific concerns regarding the accuracy of the Reuters report. The government claims this led to the illegal transmission of classified information.

Comey has been a target of President Donald Trump since he led the FBI investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Trump fired Comey in May 2017 and has repeatedly called for his prosecution, describing him as a corrupt officer.

The case has been under judicial secrecy since October 5. Defense attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the charges ten days ago. They argue the statute of limitations has expired because the government had ten years to obtain a formal indictment from a grand jury.

The defense contends that the document filed by prosecutors is an information, not a grand jury indictment. They maintain that because the underlying event occurred exactly ten years before the formal accusation, the case must be dismissed.

Comey responded to the news in a video posted on Substack on Monday. He said the situation would be almost funny if it were not a terrible abuse by the Department of Justice. He maintained his innocence and stated he does not fear the people pursuing the charges.

Patrick Fitzgerald, Comey's attorney, noted that two separate teams of prosecutors investigated the same article during Trump's first term. In both instances, the government decided not to bring charges. Fitzgerald said the current case involves an accusation not approved by a judge or issued by a grand jury.

Fitzgerald pointed out that the first case against Comey was dismissed after the Department of Justice used a person who was not actually a U.S. attorney to seek an indictment. He said the government is now charging Comey with crimes he did not commit.