Comey Faces Third Federal Case Without Grand Jury Indictment

Federal prosecutors have filed two new charges against former FBI Director James Comey: transmission of national defense information and conspiracy to transmit national defense information, according to NBC News, citing a filing unsealed Oct. 26, 2026. It is the third federal case brought against Comey, who has been a target of President Donald Trump since he opened the FBI's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, NBC reported.

What did prosecutors charge James Comey with this time?

The filing accuses Comey of illegally transferring classified information tied to an Oct. 5, 2016, New York Times article headlined "Yahoo Said to Have Aided U.S. Email Surveillance by Adapting Spam Filter," written by reporter Charlie Savage, per NBC News. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Dustin Farahnak wrote that the investigation "uncovered evidence that Mr. Comey directed staff to speak to Mr. Savage about specific accuracy concerns related to the Reuters article, and thereby illegally transferred classified information," according to the filing cited by NBC. Prosecutors say Comey was trying to correct what he saw as inaccurate reporting that had appeared in Reuters one day earlier, on Oct. 4, 2016.

Why wasn't Comey indicted by a grand jury?

The document filed against Comey is a criminal information, which is a charge brought directly by prosecutors rather than a grand jury indictment, NBC News reported. Comey "has not been indicted in the case," according to NBC. That distinction sits at the center of the defense's opening argument: a motion to dismiss filed by Comey's attorneys roughly 10 days before the charges became public, per NBC's reporting.

What is the statute-of-limitations argument from Comey's defense?

Comey's attorneys argue the case is "time barred" because prosecutors had 10 years from the Oct. 5, 2016, disclosure to secure a grand jury indictment, not merely file a criminal information, according to the filing described by NBC News. The defense filing states that both counts "are based exclusively on the October 5, 2016, alleged disclosure exactly ten years before the government's filed criminal information," NBC reported. In plain terms: prosecutors filed their charging document on the tenth anniversary of the alleged conduct, and the defense says that timing itself is the problem, since the law required an indictment rather than a prosecutor-filed information to stop the clock.

What does the case's timeline show about how it unfolded under seal?

The case has been sealed since Oct. 5, 2026, the same date cited as the tenth anniversary of the alleged leak, according to NBC News. Comey's attorneys filed their motion to dismiss roughly 10 days before the public unsealing on Oct. 26, 2026, per NBC's account. Three figures anchor the public record so far: one disclosure date (Oct. 5, 2016), one filing date exactly a decade later (Oct. 5, 2026), and two charged counts — transmission of national defense information and conspiracy to transmit it. NBC News has not reported a trial date or bail status as of publication.

How did Comey respond to the new charges?

Comey addressed the filing in a video posted to Substack after the charges became public, NBC News reported. "Well, they're back again. It would almost be funny if it weren't such an appalling abuse of the Department of Justice, one that we cannot become numb to," Comey said, according to NBC. He added, "Nothing's changed with me. I'm still innocent. I'm still not afraid of these people, and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary," per the NBC News report.

How does this fit into the broader pattern of cases against Comey?

NBC News frames this as the third federal case against Comey since his tenure as FBI director, part of what the outlet describes as sustained attention from the Trump administration toward Comey following the 2016 Russia-interference probe. The outlet did not detail outcomes of the two prior cases in this report, and no additional court dates or sentencing figures were available in the sourced material. What is documented: two new federal counts, one criminal information rather than an indictment, a disclosure date a decade old, and a defense motion already contesting whether the filing came too late under federal law.

For readers tracking the docket, the core numbers are straightforward — one article from 2016, one filing in 2026, two charges, zero indictments so far.