DOJ Extends Clock on Comey Charges

The Department of Justice filed a motion on Monday to extend the time limit for prosecuting former FBI Director James Comey for a leak of classified information.

The move appears in newly unsealed court records that detail a dispute over a decade-old incident.

Prosecutors filed a criminal information to toll the statute of limitations.

This procedural step allows the government to keep a case active without a judge’s immediate approval or a grand jury vote.

Comey’s legal team immediately challenged the action.

Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said the Justice Department had tried to charge his client with a federal crime for the third time in less than a year.

Fitzgerald stated that Comey maintains his innocence and that the new charges are barred by the 10-year statute of limitations.

A department spokesperson called the filing a widely recognized practice in federal courts.

The spokesperson noted that multiple Circuit Courts of Appeals have approved this method to extend prosecution timelines.

The agency described the matter as an ongoing criminal investigation.

Comey reacted to the news in a video statement on Monday.

He described the action as an appalling abuse of the Department of Justice that the public cannot become numb to. “Well, they’re back, again,” Comey said in the statement. “Nothing’s changed with me; I’m still innocent, I’m still not afraid of these people, and I still believe in an independent federal judiciary.” The new development marks a sharp escalation in the administration’s legal actions against Comey, who has criticized President Donald Trump since the Republican took office last year. A separate case remains pending in federal court, where Comey faces an indictment for threatening the president with an Instagram photo of seashells arranged in the numbers 86 47. Comey has asked a judge to dismiss that case, while some legal experts have questioned its validity. An earlier criminal case against the former director was filed in Virginia and accused him of lying to Congress in 2020. A judge dismissed that suit after ruling that the prosecutor who brought the charges was illegally appointed.