Former FBI Director James Comey has now been charged with federal crimes for the third time — and the newest case goes straight to one of the most explosive accusations that has followed him for years.
A criminal complaint made public Monday accuses Comey of knowingly communicating national defense information to a person who was not entitled to receive it. Prosecutors also charge him with conspiring with others to violate the law against transmitting that information.
According to the complaint, Comey directed an unnamed person, acting through one or more co-conspirators, to disclose national defense information to a reporter for a national news publication.
BNO News shared the first look at the charging document as the case became public:
Benny Johnson was among the first to flag the new charge:
CNBC reports that the case was brought by criminal complaint in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. That distinction matters: Comey has been charged, but the new filing is not a grand-jury indictment.
The first count alleges that Comey knowingly communicated information related to the national defense to someone not authorized to receive it. The second accuses him of conspiring with others to violate the same law.
Prosecutors say the alleged disclosure was not a solo handoff. The complaint claims Comey acted through one or more co-conspirators and directed an unnamed person to provide the information to a reporter working for a national news publication.
The public filing leaves major questions unresolved, including the identity of the reporter, the publication, the alleged co-conspirators and the exact national defense information at issue. Those details will determine whether the government can turn a headline-grabbing complaint into a case that survives courtroom scrutiny.
Eric Daugherty highlighted what he described as the Espionage Act dimension of the case and said the alleged conduct reaches back to October 2016:
BREAKING: DOJ has just slapped disgraced FBI Director James Comey with new ESPIONAGE ACT CHARGES for leaking National Defense Information to the media in October 2016
LFG, HE’S COOKED!
– Unlawfully disclosing National Defense Information on or about October 5, 2016
-… pic.twitter.com/nLNiqx2EUd
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) October 26, 2026
The new filing opens a separate front from Comey’s two earlier criminal cases.
In September 2025, a federal grand jury charged him with making a false statement and obstructing Congress over testimony about FBI disclosures to the press. The Associated Press reported that a judge later dismissed the case after finding that prosecutor Lindsey Halligan had been unlawfully appointed.
The dismissal stopped that prosecution without deciding whether the allegations against Comey were true. It focused on the Justice Department’s authority to install Halligan as interim U.S. attorney after a previous temporary appointment had expired.
That left the government with a major procedural defeat and a potential statute-of-limitations fight if it tried to bring the same charges again. The new Washington complaint takes a different route by accusing Comey of the underlying transmission of national defense information and conspiracy.
Then, in April 2026, the Justice Department announced a separate indictment over Comey’s “86 47” seashell post. Prosecutors charged him with threatening the president and transmitting a threat in interstate commerce.
The department alleged that a reasonable viewer familiar with the circumstances would interpret the image as a serious expression of intent to harm President Donald Trump. Comey said he believed the shells carried a political message, denied intending violence and challenged the prosecution on First Amendment grounds.
That case remains separate from the national-defense complaint made public Monday. The three cases now cover three distinct theories: false testimony to Congress, an alleged threat against the president, and an alleged conspiracy to route protected information to the media.
Now prosecutors are returning to alleged disclosures of sensitive information — but this time with a charge focused on the transmission itself rather than what Comey later told Congress about leaks.
Comey answered the latest case in a video by saying the Justice Department was back again. He maintained that he is innocent.
A criminal complaint contains allegations that prosecutors must establish in court, and Comey retains the presumption of innocence. The unanswered names, documents and communications inside this case will now matter far more than the early political reactions.
The stakes are unmistakable. Prosecutors are alleging that the former head of the FBI helped route national defense information to the press — conduct that, if proven, would turn a controversy that has simmered for nearly a decade into a direct federal criminal case over the disclosure itself.
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[ H/T WLT Report ]
