The two-count criminal information, filed under seal on Oct. 5 in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, alleges that Comey “knowingly and willfully communicated, delivered, transmitted and caused that information to be communicated, delivered and transmitted to a person not entitled to receive it,” Anadolu Agency reported.
Prosecutors allege that on Oct. 5, 2016, Comey, “through one and more co-conspirators directed Individual #1 to disclose national defense information to a reporter for a national news publication.”
The information ended up in a New York Times article, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The filing was signed by Acting Deputy Attorney General R. Trent McCotter.
The department said the filing, made exactly 10 years after the alleged disclosure, was meant to preserve the case before the statute of limitations expired while it seeks a grand jury indictment.
Comey has moved to dismiss the case in sealed proceedings, arguing that an indictment is required within 10 years and the filing does not suffice.
“An indictment fundamentally differs from an information,” his lawyers said in a court filing.
In a video posted on social media, Comey said: “It would almost be funny if it weren’t such an appalling abuse of the Department of Justice, one that we cannot become numb to.”
“Nothing’s changed with me. I’m still innocent. I’m still not afraid of these people, and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary,” he said.
Asked about the charges as he arrived at Joint Base Andrews after a rally in Mississippi, President Donald Trump said: “I don’t know too much about it. I just heard about it.”
“I think he’s a dirty cop, James Comey, but I know nothing about it,” he said.