The United States Department of Justice has launched a new criminal case, the third already, against the former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) James Comey, who is attributed with the leaking of documents related to national security in October 2016.
According to the documentation presented before the courts, the charges were filed for the first time in a court in the District of Columbia on October 5, a decade after the alleged commission of the crime.
However, the Department of Justice maintains that it intends to take the case before a grand jury and argues that the filing of the charges seeks to prolong the procedure until the statute of limitations expires. "The Department has presented criminal information," states the court document sent by the Department of Justice itself.
Comey's defense has reacted by emphasizing that an indictment is not the same as an "information." "It would be funny if there weren't so many devastating abuses against the Department of Justice," stated Comey's office.
In parallel, Comey is already facing another case in which he is accused of threats against then-President Donald Trump through social media, according to court documents from North Carolina that are handling that procedure. A previous case had ultimately been dismissed.