Former FBI Director James Comey has been charged by federal prosecutors with transmission of national defence information and conspiracy to transmit national defence information, marking the third criminal case brought against him by President Donald Trump's administration, according to court documents made public.
The case, which played out under seal from October 5, accuses Comey of sharing sensitive national security details during his tenure as FBI chief.
The charges stem from an article published by The New York Times on October 5, 2016, concerning Yahoo's role in adapting spam filters to assist US intelligence surveillance.
Special Assistant US Attorney Dustin Farahnak wrote in a filing unsealed on Monday that Comey directed staff to contact reporter Charlie Savage to correct reporting that had appeared in Reuters, and "thereby illegally transferred classified information."
Dismissal motion
Comey's defence attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the charges, arguing that the counts are based exclusively on a disclosure that occurred exactly ten years before the government filed its criminal information.
The defence contends the case is time-barred by the statute of limitations, a...