Ex-FBI director James Comey hit with fresh charges

Former FBI director James Comey has been charged with allegedly disclosing national defense information, the third criminal case brought against the outspoken critic of US President Donald Trump.

In a criminal complaint unsealed on Monday, Comey is accused of communicating the information in October 2016, when he was head of the FBI, to a “person not entitled to receive it.”

Comey was charged in September last year with making false statements to US Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding in what was widely seen as retribution by the Republican president against a political opponent.

Former FBI director James Comey speaks during a US Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 8, 2017.

Photo: AP

A federal judge threw out the case on the grounds that the US attorney handpicked by Trump who brought the charges had been unlawfully appointed.

Comey was indicted again in April, this time for allegedly threatening Trump’s life in an Instagram post that showed the numbers “86 47” spelled out in sea shells.

The Trump administration’s Department of Justice has claimed that “86 47” constitutes a threat to the president — “86” meaning to kill and “47” a reference to Trump being the 47th president.

Comey has denied threatening the president’s life.

In the latest case, Comey is accused of directing an unidentified person to “disclose national defense information to a reporter for a national news publication.”

“They’re back again,” Comey said in a video posted on his Substack in response to the latest charges.

“It would almost be funny if it weren’t such an appalling abuse of the Department of Justice,” he said. “I’m still innocent. I’m still not afraid of these people, and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary.”

In a statement to US media, Comey’s attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald, said the charges in the latest case had been investigated by prosecutors during the first Trump administration and “the Government determined that no charges should be brought against anyone.”

The unsealing of the court documents came just hours after a US federal judge ruled that firing of Comey’s daughter, Maurene Comey, a former federal prosecutor in New York, in July last year was unlawful.