Comey Lawyers Argue Third DOJ Case Misses Time Limit

James Comey faces a new legal hurdle as his attorneys ask a federal judge to dismiss a third set of criminal charges brought by the Justice Department. The legal team appeared in Washington, D.C., on Friday to request that Judge Trevor McFadden toss the case. They argue the government waited too long to act on the allegations.

The core of the defense rests on the statute of limitations. Prosecutors filed the new allegations under seal on October 5. They accuse Comey of mishandling classified information more than a decade ago. His lawyers contend that a 10-year time limit for such conduct has already lapsed. They want the judge to agree that the clock ran out before the government secured a proper indictment.

This is the third known attempt by federal prosecutors to charge the former FBI director in a span of 13 months. The push follows President Donald Trump's public demand that the Justice Department move against Comey and other political figures. The latest details became public on Monday after Judge McFadden unsealed the records at the request of Comey's legal team.

Court records show prosecutors allege Comey directed FBI staff to leak information to a New York Times reporter. The article in question was published on October 5, 2016. It discussed whether the Department of Justice sought a court order to force Yahoo to search for communications linked to a foreign terrorist organization. Prosecutors claim Comey acted to correct misinformation that had appeared in a Reuters story the previous day.

In a written response earlier this month, prosecutors stated that Comey sought to address accuracy concerns related to the Reuters piece. They argue this action constituted an illegal transfer of classified information. The Reuters article had claimed Yahoo secretly built custom software to search customer emails for specific intelligence data. Comey's team says the new charges target this 2016 media correction.

The Justice Department filed these allegations via a criminal information rather than a grand jury indictment. This procedural choice means the case did not require grand jury approval. This method of filing is central to the timing argument currently before Judge McFadden. The judge, an appointee of President Trump, must now decide if the procedural path allowed the case to age past its legal limit.

Comey is currently fighting two other federal cases. He was indicted in North Carolina on April 28 over an Instagram post from last year. Prosecutors described the post, which showed the numbers 86 47 written in seashells, as a threat against the president. Comey removed the post shortly after posting it, stating he did not realize the numbers were associated with violence. His next court appearance in that matter is set for January.

The former director was also indicted in September 2025 on charges of making a false statement and obstruction of justice. Those charges related to his 2020 testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment. That case was dismissed after a court ruled the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney who brought the charges was improperly appointed.