Comey Charged in New Case Over Alleged 2016 Disclosure

Federal prosecutors have charged former FBI Director James Comey with allegedly disclosing national defense information to a New York Times reporter and conspiring to do so, opening a new Washington case that Comey is seeking to have dismissed. The two-count criminal information was filed under seal on October 5 and made public on October 26. Prosecutors allege the conduct occurred in October 2016, when Comey was FBI director. The charges concern information related to U.S. email surveillance and a report about Yahoo’s role in responding to government surveillance requests. According to prosecutors’ court filings, Comey directed staff to speak with Times reporter Charlie Savage about a Reuters report published the previous day. Prosecutors say the discussion addressed what they viewed as inaccuracies in that report, but resulted in an unauthorized transfer of national defense information. They also allege the Times article included details similar to those in an internal government email circulated to about 30 intelligence-community recipients hours before publication. Those claims have not been established in court. The case was brought through a criminal information, a...