By Basant El-Faramawy
Attorneys for former FBI Director James Comey appeared in federal court Friday seeking to dismiss the third criminal case the Trump administration has brought against him in the past 13 months. The latest case centers on allegations that Comey, while serving as FBI director in October 2016, authorized staff to speak to a New York Times reporter to correct the record about a story involving classified information.
Previous cases dismissed or delayed
The first case, brought in September 2025 in the Eastern District of Virginia, was tossed after a court found that Trump-aligned attorney Lindsey Halligan had unlawfully acted as a federal prosecutor. A second case in the Eastern District of North Carolina, known as the “seashells case,” stemmed from an Instagram photo Comey posted with seashells arranged to spell “8647,” which prosecutors alleged was a threat against the president. Comey’s team has moved to dismiss that case, arguing the term “86” is restaurant slang for an item being unavailable, and a judge has delayed trial until 2027.
Statute of limitations at issue
The current case was filed under seal on Oct. 5, exactly 10 years after the New York Times published a story about Yahoo’s compliance with a secret surveillance court order. Comey’s attorneys contend the government failed to secure a grand jury indictment before the 10-year statute of limitations expired. The case was brought via a criminal information filed directly by prosecutors, without a judge’s sign-off or grand jury review. Legal experts, including former federal prosecutor Sarah Krissoff, have questioned the mechanism, saying it undermines the government’s own complaint.
Alleged arrest timing
Comey’s legal team believes the government intended to obtain an arrest warrant and execute an after-hours arrest on the Friday before Columbus Day weekend, ensuring Comey would remain in jail over the long holiday. U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden ordered the case unsealed Monday and scheduled Friday’s hearing on the motion to dismiss.
Broader pattern of political cases
The hearing comes at the end of a week marked by scrutiny of political prosecutions in Washington. A federal grand jury rejected the Trump administration’s attempt to indict Cassidy Hutchinson, a key witness for the House Jan. 6 committee. Separately, a magistrate judge held hearings examining charges brought by criminal complaint against two former FBI employees targeted by Trump allies. Krissoff said the grand juries’ insistence on evidence and the judiciary’s role are “holding our country together.”
