Former FBI Director James Comey has been charged with federal crimes for the third time, according to a court filing released Monday.
Comey is accused in the new case of knowingly communicating information related to national defense to a person who had no right to receive it. He is also accused of conspiring with others to violate the law prohibiting the sharing of such information.
The criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., states that Comey, “through one or more co-conspirators,” directed an unnamed individual “to disclose national defense information to a reporter for a national news publication.”
Comey was repeatedly targeted by the Justice Department during the administration of President Donald Trump, who fired him as FBI director in 2017. Since then, the two men have been fiercely critical of each other.
Comey is currently seeking the dismissal of an indictment obtained by the DOJ in North Carolina federal court for allegedly threatening Trump’s life by posting a photo of seashells on a beach on social media. He had already obtained the dismissal of another indictment accusing him of perjury before Congress.
The new criminal complaint was unsealed hours after a federal judge in New York ruled that the Justice Department illegally fired Comey’s daughter, Maurene Comey, last year as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.
“Well, they’re back,” James Comey said in a video message on Substack addressing the new case.
“It would almost be funny if this were not such an appalling abuse of the Department of Justice, an abuse to which we cannot remain insensitive,” he said. “Nothing has changed for me. I am still innocent. I am still not afraid of these people and I still believe in the independence of the federal judiciary.”
“And I’m still blessed to have an incredible family and an incredible group of lawyers who will stand up in court and fight the breaking news and everything that comes after it,” Comey said. “The next few years are going to be difficult for all of us. It’s really important that we stand tall and keep our faith in America.”
In the pending indictment in North Carolina, Comey was accused in late April of threatening Trump’s life by posting a photo on Instagram of seashells on a beach arranged to form the numbers “86 47.”
Prosecutors say the number “86” — which is often used in restaurants to indicate that a menu item is no longer available — was code suggesting someone kill Trump, the 47th president of the United States.
Comey has denied any wrongdoing in the case and is seeking to have the indictment thrown out by a judge.
Comey was first indicted in September 2025 by a federal grand jury in Virginia for making false statements and obstruction, in connection with his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 30, 2020.
Comey, in that testimony, denied allowing another FBI person to serve as an anonymous source in reporting about an investigation into Hillary Clinton and her emails when she was the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate.
This first indictment was dismissed by a judge on November 24, 2025, after the judge ruled that Lindsey Halligan, a then-acting U.S. attorney who obtained the indictments, had been invalidated.
On the same day the judge dismissed Comey’s case for this reason, the same judge threw out an unrelated indictment obtained by Halligan against New York Attorney General Letitia James, who had been charged with bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution in connection with a mortgage loan she obtained in 2020.
James, like Comey, has been a staunch critic of Trump and a target of the president’s ire.
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