Former FBI Director James Comey has more or less skated by on charges from President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice by claiming not to know anything.
He didn’t know that posting an Instagram photo of shells arranged in a formation saying “86 47” was, in fact, a clarion call to remove President Trump by any means necessary, which is to say — in this climate, anyhow — violent means.
He claimed he didn’t authorize anyone to leak to the press during the “Crossfire Hurricane” Russiagate investigation, at least in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The charges in that case were dismissed, albeit not because of anything Comey did. A judge ruled that the attorney who had issued the charge wasn’t properly appointed.
Comey is going to have a much more difficult time this go-around, particularly since we have him on video saying that what he’s accused of doing definitely is a crime.
So, in case you missed it on Monday, Comey was charged with passing on classified information in 2016 in his role as FBI director. NBC News called him “a longtime target of President Donald Trump” and noted he “hasn’t been indicted in the latest case.”
“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 response to the charges.
“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.”
This one might be a bit harder to avoid, however, unless by “independent federal judiciary” he means “bench tools of the Obama and/or Biden administrations who will disregard the law in favor of political outcomes.”
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His best defense is the statute of limitations and arguing that the charges were filed via criminal information and not a grand jury, which his lawyers say violates the 10-year limit. Perhaps they’ll succeed on this.
“In furtherance of the conspiracy and to effect the objects thereof, on October 5, 2016, the defendant through one or more co-conspirators directed Individual #1 to disclose national defense information to a reporter for a national news publication,” the charges read.
“All in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 793(d) and (g).”
BREAKING: Former FBI Director James Comey has been charged with violating the Espionage Act for allegedly directing the disclosure of national defense information to a reporter in 2016. The case is assigned to Judge Trevor McFadden in Washington, D.C. https://t.co/iIPThx9Xr3
— SCOTUS Wire (@scotus_wire) October 26, 2026
And, here’s some video from a March 20, 2017, hearing with him saying that this is indeed a crime.
@C__Herridge @FBIDirectorKash @ChuckGrassley Here is James Comey confirming that leaking classified documents is a felony crime. https://t.co/664o6Ql5fh
— Clyp Keeper (@DGrayTexas45) August 14, 2025
Yeah, you know who doesn’t forget, James? C-SPAN.
While the context was different — this in terms of leaking the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant from the Trump-Russia collusion rabbit hole — the law and the basic premise are the same.
Moreover, the 2017 testimony in which he made this comment was in response looks a great deal worse under this light and the light of the charges.
If they aren’t materially false, then Comey has a lot of ‘splainin to do, and not just about the statute of limitations. After all, Comey built his entire reputation with the anti-Trump forces on the leftist Boy Scout image; conservatives knew this was a load of bunk, but it played well on “The View.”
If this man lied about what he was doing and knew full well it was a crime, even these head-in-sand wine mommy types can’t paint him as a hero anymore.
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