Washington DC - Former FBI director James Comey is responding to a new federal charge against him for allegedly leaking national defense information, the third criminal case brought against the outspoken critic of President Donald Trump.

In a criminal complaint unsealed on Monday, Comey is accused of communicating the information in October 2016, when he was head of the FBI, to a "person not entitled to receive it."

The complaint, which was filed in US District Court in Washington DC, claim Comey, “through one or more co-conspirators,” directed an unnamed person “to disclose national defense information to a reporter for a national news publication.”

Comey has been a target of the federal government under the Trump administration since President Trump fired him as FBI director in 2017.

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Comey responded to the latest charges in a video message on his Substack page: “Well, they’re back – again,” he said.

“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 said. “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.”

This is the third time Comey has been charged with federal crimes. Comey was charged in September 2025 with making false statements to Congress, but a federal judge threw out the case.

In April, Comey was indicted again, this time for allegedly threatening Trump's life in an Instagram post.