Lawyers for the DOJ and Comey will face off in court today over the latest attempt to charge him.

Former FBI Director James Comey will return to a federal courtroom Friday as his legal team prepares to argue for dismissal of the Justice Department’s latest attempt to bring criminal charges against the Trump foe for allegedly disclosing classified information.

Prosecutors are seeking to charge Comey a third time, alleging he violated the Espionage Act by transmitting national defense information to a person who was not legally authorized to receive it in connection with a 2016 New York Times article.

Comey has not been formally charged by a criminal complaint or indicted by a federal grand jury in the Espionage Act case. Instead, in an unusual move, federal prosecutors filed a criminal complaint earlier this month that does not require approval by a grand jury or a finding by a magistrate judge that there is probable cause that a crime was committed. The Justice Department said it took the action to preserve the government’s case before a 10-year statute of limitations expires.

Comey’s legal team said in a statement after the documents were revealed Monday that Comey “strongly maintains his innocence.”

In court filings made public earlier this week, Comey’s lawyers said the alleged disclosure of classified information — which took place on Oct. 5, 2016 — was investigated by two separate U.S. attorneys’ offices, both of which declined to file charges. His team also called for the case to be dismissed, calling the criminal information “erroneous.”

“The criminal information indicting Mr. Comey should be dismissed as statute of limitations,” Comey’s legal team wrote in early October, arguing that the statute of limitations had expired. They say the government’s criminal information “does not meet the express legal requirements of an extended ten-year statute of limitations” and the charges should be dismissed.

After an emergency hearing earlier this month, the Justice Department agreed not to seek indictments for 30 days, Comey’s lawyers wrote in their court papers.

The Justice Department argued in court filings that Comey’s attempt to dismiss the criminal information was improper because no indictment had been returned against him, and therefore “there is no indictment to dismiss.”

The government also argued that the statute of limitations has not expired in this case because the underlying espionage allegations are subject to a 10-year statute of limitations. Justice Department lawyers said the information “constitutes an accusation that, as a general rule, can be substituted for the indictment in a felony case.”

This is the third time in more than a year that the Justice Department has attempted to indict Comey.

In September 2025, it was indicted for lying to Congress. A judge later dismissed the charges on the grounds that the Trump-appointed prosecutor who oversaw them was appointed illegally.

And earlier this year he was accused of threaten President Trump in a social media post of a photo of shells arranged to say “86 47.”

Lawyers for Comey — whom Mr. Trump fired as FBI director nearly a decade ago — argued that the charges against him were politically motivated and asked a judge to throw out the threats case on the grounds of selective and vindictive prosecution. The North Carolina judge in the case has not yet ruled on the motions.