Justice Dept. Brings More Charges Against Comey, Accusing Him of Leaks

Federal prosecutors have brought new charges against James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, accusing him of mishandling national security information in October 2016 that they said ended up in a New York Times article, according to court papers unsealed on Monday.

The case highlights the extraordinary effort the Justice Department has expended in pursuing Mr. Comey, a vocal critic of President Trump’s who has emerged as one of his most favored targets. It is the third time in 13 months that the Trump administration has sought to prosecute Mr. Comey, whom Mr. Trump fired as F.B.I. director in 2017.

The new charges came in the form of a criminal information filed under seal in Federal District Court in Washington this month, the court records say, meaning that prosecutors brought charges without immediately seeking approval from either a judge or a grand jury. Mr. Comey’s lawyers had in recent weeks sought to get the charges dismissed, but have yet to succeed, the records show.

In a video posted online, Mr. Comey vowed to fight the case.

“I’m still innocent. I’m still not afraid of these people,” he said. The new case against him, he said, “would almost be funny if it weren’t such an appalling abuse of the Department of Justice, one that we cannot become numb to.”

The charging document was signed by two senior officials at Justice Department headquarters, as well as lower-ranking line prosecutors on special assignments from other offices, including the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. attorney offices in Texas and Florida.

Mr. Comey is accused of knowingly and willfully causing national defense information to be “communicated, delivered and transmitted to a person not entitled to receive it” around Oct. 4 and 5 of 2016. Court papers in the case point to an Oct. 5 article in The Times describing a novel use of surveillance authority involving Yahoo emails.