Former FBI Director James Comey declared himself “still innocent” after President Donald Trump’s Justice Department charged him again, but warned that the “next couple years are gonna be hard.”
Comey made the remarks Monday in a video on his Substack, titled “Yet another case in DC.”
U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden unsealed the case in Washington the same day, according to his order.
“This case is the government’s third attempt to prosecute Mr. Comey within the last 13 months,” his lawyers wrote in an Oct. 16 motion to dismiss the new charges.
The new case centers on an Oct. 5, 2016, New York Times story by reporter Charlie Savage about Yahoo aiding U.S. email surveillance, prosecutors wrote in an Oct. 23 filing. They allege Comey directed staff to talk to Savage about a Reuters report from the day before and “thereby illegally transferred classified information.”Prosecutors filed the charges in secret on Oct. 5, accusing Comey of sharing national defense information with someone not entitled to receive it and of conspiring to do so, NBC News reported.
“Well, they’re back again,” Comey said in the video. “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,” he continued. “I’m still not afraid of these people, and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary.”
Comey used nearly the same words in April after a grand jury in North Carolina indicted him over an Instagram photo of seashells spelling out “86 47,” which prosecutors called a threat against Trump
Trump fired Comey as FBI director in 2017 and has long called for legal consequences for him. In a Truth Social post in September 2025, Trump demanded that his attorney general prosecute Comey and other critics, writing, “JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!”
Days later, a Virginia grand jury indicted Comey on charges of lying to and obstructing Congress, Bloomberg Law reported. A judge threw out that case in November, ruling that the prosecutor Trump handpicked was unlawfully appointed, and the Justice Department has appealed, the outlet reported.
“This case is the government’s third attempt to prosecute Mr. Comey within the last 13 months,” his lawyers wrote in an Oct. 16 motion to dismiss the new charges.
The new case centers on an Oct. 5, 2016, New York Times story by reporter Charlie Savage about Yahoo aiding U.S. email surveillance, prosecutors wrote in an Oct. 23 filing. They allege Comey directed staff to talk to Savage about a Reuters report from the day before and “thereby illegally transferred classified information.”
Prosecutors in Washington during Trump’s first term and a team led by John Durham, then the U.S. attorney in Connecticut, investigated the same 2016 disclosure and declined to bring charges, according to declassified FBI memos.
Prosecutors filed the case as a criminal information, a charge a prosecutor can bring without a grand jury, exactly 10 years after the alleged disclosure, Comey’s lawyers wrote in their motion. They argued that the 10-year deadline for these crimes covers only grand jury indictments, so the charges came too late.
“I’m still lucky to have an amazing family and an incredible group of lawyers, and we’ll stand up in court and fight the latest and whatever comes after this,” Comey vowed.
“Mr. Comey is mistaken,” prosecutors wrote in their Oct. 23 filing. They argued that the law lets an information meet the 10-year deadline and that his motion is premature since he has not been indicted.
“The Court will address the remaining issues in the dismissal motion in due course,” McFadden wrote in Monday’s order.
“The next couple years are gonna be hard for all of us,” Comey warned.
In North Carolina, a judge has pushed the hearing where Comey will enter a plea in the seashell case to January, and his trial will not start until 2027.
“It’s really important that we stand straight and keep the faith in America,” Comey added.
Yet another case in DC by James Comey
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