From NBC News: Federal prosecutors have charged former FBI Director James Comey with transmission of national defense information and conspiracy to transmit national defense information.
It’s the third federal case against Comey, who has been a longtime target of President Donald Trump since he initiated the FBI investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
The case has played out under seal since Oct. 5.
Comey’s defense attorneys filed a motion 10 days ago to dismiss the charges. He has not been indicted in the case.
Comey responded to the new charges in a video Monday.
“Well, they’re back again. 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,” Comey said in a video on Substack after the charges were made public.
“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.
The new charges stem from an Oct. 5, 2016, article in The New York Times with the headline “Yahoo Said to Have Aided U.S. Email Surveillance by Adapting Spam Filter” by reporter Charlie Savage.
“The United States’ investigation has uncovered evidence that former FBI Director, James B. Comey, sought to correct misinformation which had appeared in the press by way of Reuters the day before,” Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Dustin Farahnak wrote in a filing unsealed Monday. “The investigation has uncovered evidence that Mr. Comey directed staff to speak to Mr. Savage about specific accuracy concerns related to the Reuters article, and thereby illegally transferred classified information.”
Leave a Reply