By Sohaib Shams
Lawyers for former FBI Director James Comey will ask a federal judge on Friday to block the U.S. Justice Department from pursuing a third criminal case against him. The hearing comes as Comey remains an outspoken critic of Donald Trump, who fired him early in his first term.
Leak case previously investigated twice
The latest effort centers on a decade-old leak investigation that was examined by federal prosecutors on two separate occasions with no charges filed. Court documents unsealed Monday show the Trump administration bypassed a grand jury and filed a criminal information charging document this month.
Judge appointed by Trump to hear arguments
U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee, is scheduled to hear arguments on whether the case should proceed. Comey's attorneys have called the prosecution legally invalid, while the Justice Department says the maneuver extends the statute of limitations for a grand jury indictment.
History of politically charged cases
Comey has faced two previous criminal cases. One, accusing him of lying to Congress in 2020, was dismissed after a judge ruled the prosecutor was illegally appointed. A separate pending indictment charges Comey with threatening Trump via an Instagram post of seashells arranged as "86 47."
Allegations stem from 2016 Yahoo email scanning story
The current allegation concerns an October 2016 New York Times report about a secret court order requiring Yahoo to scan emails for potential links to a foreign terrorist organization. The story cited anonymous government officials discussing a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court order.
Prior investigations closed without charges
Federal authorities, including prosecutor John Durham, investigated the disclosure in 2017. Durham wrote a classified memo in December 2018 recommending no criminal charges. A second investigation under the code name Tropical Vortex was opened in 2019 but closed without charges in early 2020.
