US Justice Department charges former FBI Director James Comey again
- Comey, accused of leaking national defense information, calls case ‘appalling abuse’ of Justice Department
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- Comey, accused of leaking national defense information, calls case ‘appalling abuse’ of Justice Department
By Rabia Iclal Turan
WASHINGTON (AA) - The US Justice Department has criminally charged former FBI Director James Comey for a third time, alleging that he leaked national defense information in October 2016, according to court records unsealed Monday.
The two-count criminal information, filed on Oct. 5 in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, alleges that Comey “knowingly and willfully communicated, delivered, transmitted, and caused that information to be communicated, delivered, and transmitted to a person not entitled to receive it.”
Prosecutors allege that on Oct. 5, 2016, Comey, “through one and more co-conspirators directed Individual #1 to disclose national defense information to a reporter for a national news publication.”
The information ended up in a New York Times article, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The filing was signed by Acting Deputy Attorney General R. Trent McCotter.
The department said the filing, made exactly 10 years after the alleged disclosure, was meant to preserve the case before the statute of limitations expired while it seeks a grand jury indictment.
Comey has moved to dismiss the case in sealed proceedings, arguing that an indictment is required within 10 years and the filing does not suffice.
“An indictment fundamentally differs from an information,” his lawyers said in a court filing.
In a video posted on social media, Comey said: “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.”
“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,” he said.
Rabia İclal Turan