Former FBI Director James Comey Charged in D.C. With Transmitting National Defense Information

ANALYSIS · October 26, 2026

Slug: comey-charged-national-defense-information-dc

James B. Comey, official FBI portrait as the seventh Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

James B. Comey, official portrait as FBI Director. Federal Bureau of Investigation photo (public domain, U.S. government work). Source: Wikimedia Commons, from fbi.gov.

Package note: This Analysis is based on the court record in United States v. James Brien Comey, Jr., Case No. 1:26-cr-00229 (TNM), U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia: the criminal information (corrected copy), the government’s motion to seal, Comey’s motion to dismiss, the government’s response and exhibit, and Judge Trevor N. McFadden’s Oct. 26, 2026, unsealing order. DOJ had not posted a press release on justice.gov when this was written. A criminal information is a charge filed by prosecutors without a grand jury vote. It is an accusation, not a finding of guilt, and Comey is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Primary sources

  • Criminal information (corrected copy), ECF No. 1, filed Oct. 5, 2026: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.297297/gov.uscourts.dcd.297297.1.0.pdf
  • Government’s motion to seal, ECF No. 3: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.297297/gov.uscourts.dcd.297297.3.0.pdf
  • Comey’s motion to dismiss criminal information, ECF No. 11, filed Oct. 16, 2026: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.297297/gov.uscourts.dcd.297297.11.0.pdf
  • Government’s response, ECF No. 12, filed Oct. 23, 2026: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.297297/gov.uscourts.dcd.297297.12.0.pdf (Exhibit 1: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.297297/gov.uscourts.dcd.297297.12.1.pdf)
  • Memorandum order unsealing the case, ECF No. 14, signed Oct. 26, 2026: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.297297/gov.uscourts.dcd.297297.14.0.pdf
  • Docket (CourtListener/RECAP mirror of PACER): https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/75021374/united-states-v-comey/
  • Statute: 18 U.S.C. § 793: https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title18-section793&num=0&edition=prelim
  • Earlier case, E.D.N.C.: DOJ release, April 28, 2026: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/federal-grand-jury-indicts-former-fbi-director-james-comey-threats-harm-president-trump
  • Earlier case, E.D. Va.: docket, No. 1:25-cr-00272: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71459120/united-states-v-comey/

Former FBI Director James Comey is charged in federal court in Washington, D.C., with two counts tied to an alleged disclosure of national defense information on or about Oct. 5, 2016, while he led the FBI. Prosecutors filed the two-count criminal information under seal on Oct. 5, 2026, exactly ten years after the alleged disclosure. Judge Trevor N. McFadden unsealed the case on Oct. 26, 2026, at Comey’s request. The government did not oppose. Comey has asked the court to dismiss the case as time-barred. The motion is pending. His filing says he “maintains his innocence and categorically denies that he violated the law.”

Core Tension

The information is short. It alleges that Comey, “through one and more co-conspirators directed Individual #1 to disclose national defense information to a reporter for a national news publication” on Oct. 5, 2016. It does not identify Individual #1, the reporter, the publication or the information. These are the government’s allegations, and no court has tested them.

The main fight so far is over timing, not the facts. Federal felonies generally carry a five-year statute of limitations. Section 19 of the Internal Security Act of 1950 allows ten years for Section 793 offenses, but its text refers to “an indictment.” Comey’s lawyers argue that an information, which prosecutors can file without a grand jury, does not qualify for the longer period, so the charges are too late. The government responds that the motion is premature and that the ten-year period covers informations too. Judge McFadden’s Oct. 26 order addressed only sealing. It says the court “will address the remaining issues in the dismissal motion in due course.”

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