JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
The Justice Department has brought criminal charges against former FBI Director James Comey for the third time. Comey is a high-profile critic of President Trump. And the latest case against him is over the alleged leak of sensitive government information a decade ago. NPR justice correspondent Ryan Lucas has been combing through the court documents and is with us now. Hi there.
RYAN LUCAS, BYLINE: Hi there.
SUMMERS: Ryan, I know this is breaking news, but just start by telling us what you can about the charges here.
LUCAS: Right, so Comey faces two criminal counts in this latest case, one for the alleged disclosure of sensitive information and the other alleging a conspiracy to disclose such information. Now, court papers say this all dates back to October of 2016, so 10 years ago, when Comey was still FBI director. And the charges revolve around an article published in The New York Times on October 5 of that year about U.S. email surveillance. Prosecutors say that Comey directed FBI staff to speak to a Times reporter and, by doing so, illegally leaked sensitive information.
Now, Comey's attorneys say in court papers that this very incident was twice already investigated by two separate U.S. attorneys. They say both of those U.S. attorneys declined to prosecute. And now we have the Justice Department in the second Trump administration pursuing this case. And as it turns out, the Justice Department has been pursuing this case behind closed doors for three weeks.
SUMMERS: Ryan, I want to make sure I understand here. This has been going on for three weeks, and yet we're just finding out about it this evening?
LUCAS: That's right. And that's because this case was just unsealed to the public this afternoon. But a legal fight has been playing out behind closed doors since the Justice Department filed this case on October 5. And that date is important because Comey's attorneys say the 10-year statute of limitations deadline expired that very day. But prosecutors filed what's known as a criminal information, not a grand jury indictment. And Comey's attorneys have already filed a motion to dismiss this case because they argue that since this isn't an indictment, under law, the window to file charges has closed.
Now, the government disagrees. The court has not ruled on that motion yet. But it's important to say here, this maneuver on the Justice Department's part to try to slide this case in under the deadline is very unusual.
SUMMERS: I know it's really early still, but have we heard anything from Comey himself about this?
LUCAS: We have, yes. He put a statement out on Instagram. Here's a bit of what he said.
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JAMES COMEY: Well, 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. 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.
LUCAS: Now, we said it at the top, but it's worth repeating here again. This is the third time that the Trump Justice Department has brought charges against James Comey. The first was for alleged false statements and obstruction tied to congressional testimony. That case was tossed out by a court. The second case is for the alleged threats against President Trump. That's tied to a photo of seashells that Comey posted on social media. Comey is challenging that case as well. And one of the arguments that he's making is that he says he's being selectively and vindictively prosecuted because of his criticism of President Trump.
Now we have this third criminal case against him brought, as I've said, in an unusual way. But this all shows the lengths to which the Justice Department will go in its pursuit of one of the most prominent critics of President Trump.
SUMMERS: NPR's Ryan Lucas, thank you.
LUCAS: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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