Comey calls third Justice Department charges an abuse and says he is innocent

The US Justice Department has taken steps for a third time in just over a year to bring criminal charges against former FBI director James Comey. The move concerns an alleged leak of national security information to a journalist in 2016, when Comey still led the FBI. The action was described as a new indictment. Comey, an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump, has denied wrongdoing.

In a video posted on Instagram, Comey said: "They're back again. 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." He added: "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 the next couple of years would be hard for all of us and urged people to "stand straight and keep the faith in America." His lawyers have previously accused the administration of pursuing a politically motivated prosecution.

Glenn Kirschner, a former federal prosecutor, said any accusation that someone mishandled national defence information under espionage laws was serious. But he questioned the case because of the administration's record of unsuccessful attempts against Comey. He said Comey's legal team had filed a motion to dismiss the two charges "at light speed," arguing that they were filed beyond a 10-year statute of limitations. The alleged conduct dates to October 5, 2016. Kirschner said prosecutors had not filed an indictment, which he said was required within that period, and had instead filed a criminal information. In his reading, the motion to dismiss had a very good chance of being granted.

Kirschner described the third attempt as looking like a "revenge-fueled attempt" by Trump's Justice Department to find a charge that would stick. He pointed to the earlier case over allegedly lying to Congress, which he said was thrown out at the earliest stage, and a second case over an Instagram photograph of seashells arranged to read 8647. He said the department's portrayal of that image as an assassination attempt strained credulity and that a motion to dismiss was pending.

He also argued that the process itself was being used as punishment. Comey faces up to 10 years on each of the two charges, must hire counsel and endure strain on his family, Kirschner said. Kirschner said that if this was the best case the department had after three attempts, it suggested it would struggle to find unlawful conduct by Comey. He added that the pattern of repeated attempts made more of the same likely.