James Comey has now been charged three times. The latest case, unsealed in Washington on Monday, October 26, accuses the former FBI director of transmitting national defense information to someone who was not entitled to receive it, and of directing its disclosure to a news outlet.
The charges are tied to a New York Times story published on October 5, 2016, about email surveillance. Prosecutors allege Comey conspired to transmit the information and directed its disclosure. The filing is a two-count criminal information, unsealed in federal court in Washington, D.C.
What makes the timing striking is the date on the original filing: October 5. That was exactly ten years after the Times story — filed under seal, prosecutors say, to beat the ten-year statute of limitations.
"I'm still innocent, I'm still not afraid"
Comey's response was swift and defiant. "I'm still innocent, I'm still not afraid," he said, repeating the line he has used since his first prosecution.
His lawyer, Patrick Fitzgerald, went further, saying Comey did not commit the crimes alleged and pointing out that the matter had twice been investigated without charges being brought. The implication is blunt: this is not a new discovery, but a new decision.
Trump, who fired Comey as FBI director in 2017, has never hidden his view of him. He has called Comey a "dirty cop" and has repeatedly accused him of abusing his power. Comey's supporters argue the opposite — that the prosecutions are themselves an abuse of power, aimed at a prominent critic of the president.
A family twist on the same day
The same day the new charges were unsealed, a judge ruled that the Justice Department's 2025 firing of Comey's daughter, Maurene Comey, was unlawful. Maurene Comey, a federal prosecutor, had been dismissed last year in a move that drew sharp criticism from former prosecutors who saw it as political.
The ruling does not settle the new criminal case against her father. But it adds an extraordinary layer to the day: father charged, daughter's firing declared unlawful, all within hours.
Three cases, one long feud
The new case joins a remarkable legal history. In April 2025, Comey was charged with lying to Congress. That case was dismissed. In September 2025, he was charged in connection with the "8647" seashells episode — a reference to a social media post that Trump supporters read as a threat. That case is still pending.
Now comes a third case, reaching back a full decade to the final weeks of the 2016 campaign, when Comey was running the FBI during the Hillary Clinton email investigation and the early Russia inquiry.
For Comey's critics, the pattern proves that he repeatedly crossed lines with classified and sensitive information. For his defenders, the pattern proves something else: that a former FBI director who became a vocal Trump critic is being pursued again and again until something sticks.
Neither side is likely to change its mind. What happens next will be decided in court — whether the decade-old allegations survive legal challenge, whether the sealed filing holds up, and whether a jury ever hears the case at all.
For now, Comey's message is the one he has repeated from the start: innocent, and unafraid.
Sources: USA Today; Reuters.
