By Townhall Chicago News Staff
The U.S. Department of Justice filed new criminal charges Monday against former FBI Director James Comey, accusing him of sharing classified information with a Columbia University law professor who then passed details to journalists.
The two-count filing, known as a criminal information, allows prosecutors to bring charges without a grand jury indictment. It is the latest legal action against Comey since President Donald Trump fired him from the FBI in May 2017.
Prosecutors allege Comey used Daniel Richman, a Columbia Law School professor and former special government employee, as an intermediary to pass national defense information to reporters at The New York Times. Comey responded with a recorded video statement denying the charges.
“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,” Comey said in the statement. “The next couple years are going to be hard for all of us.”
Comey served as FBI director from 2013 to 2017 after previously working as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and deputy attorney general. Obama appointed him to lead the FBI; Trump fired him in 2017, a decision that led to years of legal disputes between the two.
The same day the new charges were filed, two former FBI agents, Nikki Flores and Bradley Benavides, surrendered to face separate perjury charges. U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro announced the charges, which accuse the pair of lying to Congress about their roles on the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force during the 2020 election and about the bureau’s handling of Hunter Biden’s laptop.
In a third development, U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman ruled this month that the firing of Assistant U.S. Attorney Maureen Comey, James Comey’s daughter, violated federal civil service law. Furman ordered the Justice Department to pay her five months of back pay.
Monday’s charges against James Comey follow at least one earlier criminal case against him that was dismissed over questions about the appointment of the prosecutor who brought it. No trial date has been set in the new case.
Comey is expected to contest the charges in federal court. The Justice Department has not announced whether additional charges will follow the Monday filings.
The FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force, where Flores and Benavides previously served, investigates foreign efforts to interfere in U.S. elections. Pirro’s office did not provide additional details on the specific congressional testimony at issue in the perjury charges.
