The Justice Department charges James Comey a third time, alleging he leaked national defense information to the New York Times in 2016.
A two-count, three-page filing, unsealed Monday, Oct. 26, accuses the former FBI director of transmitting national defense information on Oct. 5, 2016, and conspiring to do so. Prosecutors filed it under seal Oct. 5, the day the 10-year deadline ran out. Comey says he is innocent and calls the case “an appalling abuse of the Department of Justice.”
- Oct. 5, 2016The alleged leak, while Comey ran the FBI. The clock starts.
- Five yearsThe limit for most federal crimes. The Espionage Act allows five more.
- Oct. 5Ten years, the Espionage Act limit under a 1950 law. DOJ files under seal.
Long ticks mark years, short ticks months, each at its true place on the turn.
Indictment
- Brought by
- A grand jury’s vote
- 1950 espionage law
- The only charge it names; one “may be found” within the 10 years
- General five-year law
- Named
- For a felony
- Required, unless the defendant waives it in open court
Information What DOJ filed
- Brought by
- A prosecutor, alone
- 1950 espionage law
- Not mentioned
- General five-year law
- Named; the 7th Circuit in 1998 and the 11th in 2025 read it to stop the clock even without a waiver
- For a felony
- No plea or trial without that waiver
Prosecutor Dustin Farahnak writes that investigators found Comey “directed staff to speak to Mr. Savage about specific accuracy concerns related to the Reuters article, and thereby illegally transferred classified information.” The filing names neither the information nor the staff. Comey’s lawyer, Patrick Fitzgerald, says two prosecution teams in Trump’s first term examined the same leak, and “both times the Government determined that no charges should be brought against anyone.”
Read the reporting
A 9th Circuit panel dismisses, 2-1, DOJ’s emergency appeal to make California set aside the mail ballots of 20,000-plus listed voters.
The majority said it had no power to act because DOJ never gave the trial judge, David Carter, a fair chance to rule. DOJ’s noon deadline left him about 15 hours, three of them business hours, and DOJ then treated his silence as a denial.
The panel, 2-1
- MajorityMark BennettTrump appointee
Wrote separately that he would also reject DOJ’s request on its merits.
- MajorityGabriel SanchezBiden appointee
Wrote in a concurrence that DOJ “asks the federal court to dictate to a state legislature a matter squarely within the state’s traditional domain.”
- DissentPatrick BumatayTrump appointee
“The United States’s claimed emergency, at least in part, is a self-constructed one.”Unsigned majority opinion
The panel ruled only on its power to hear the appeal. It did not decide whether anyone on the 20,000-plus list is a noncitizen.
Read the reporting
Social Security’s retirement fund is now less than six years from running out, which would cut benefits 22% in late 2032.
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a Washington group that tracks federal debt, says the retirement trust fund, which pays monthly checks to retirees and survivors, crossed the six-years-to-empty line this month. After it runs out, the money still coming in would cover only part of what is owed.
22% Late 2032, when the fund runs out
38% By the end of the century
The whole check is the scheduled amount. Applied today, a cut of 22% would cost the average retiree about $500 a month.
The 2026 trustees report puts the date in the fourth quarter of 2032, one quarter earlier than last year’s report. Paying full benefits through 2100 would mean raising the combined payroll tax now from 12.4% to 16.65%. For a worker earning $50,000, that is $1,062.50 more a year from the worker and $1,062.50 more from the employer. Medicare’s hospital fund would run dry about six months later.
Senate backing, with 60 votes needed to advance
- 11
- Social Security Expansion Act, from Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent
- 5
- Social Security 2100 Act, from Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, at its launch
- 8
- Bipartisan PROMISE Act, which only sets up a process to write a plan
Read the reporting
A judge rules DOJ illegally fired Maurene Comey, rejecting the claim that presidents can fire prosecutors at will.
U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman ordered James Comey’s daughter, a Manhattan federal prosecutor for about 10 years, reinstated retroactively, with back pay only through Dec. 20, 2025, when she took a job in private practice.
Furman found the July 2025 firing violated the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act, the separation of powers and her due process rights. She won 4 of her 10 claims; 5 were rejected or dismissed, and her First Amendment claim is still pending. DOJ says then-Attorney General Pam Bondi directed the firing and will appeal “in due course.”
Read the reporting
Trump offers $1 million to anyone whose voter fraud tip leads to an arrest and conviction.
The Truth Social offer, made eight days before the midterms, covers past elections and 2026. Trump named no funding source, and the White House offered no details on who would pay or how.
The new offer, on Truth Social
$1 million a tip
- For
- Voter fraud tips that lead to an arrest and conviction, past elections and 2026
- Paid from
- No source named
The fund Trump and Vance announced Tuesday, Oct. 20
$30,000 cap a reward
- For
- Health care and benefits fraud, per the Justice Department
- Fund
- $25 million
Two counts, two spans
- 1,619
- Proven voter fraud cases, 1982 through 2025, in the Heritage Foundation’s tracker
- about 2.26 billion
- Ballots in federal general elections, 1982 to 2024, per University of Florida Election Lab data
Read the reporting
Israel’s military chief resisted Netanyahu’s push for an Iran strike before the Oct. 27 vote, officials told the Times.
Netanyahu’s office denies the account, and so does Defense Minister Israel Katz. Opposition leader Avigdor Lieberman asked the attorney general to open a criminal treason probe, PBS NewsHour reports.
Officials, unnamed, to the Times
- The army chief resisted an open strike, fearing it could restart the war.
- Netanyahu then sought a lesser action short of a strike. What it was has not been made public.
On the record
- Defense Minister Israel Katz, on X “no intention by Israel of initiating an attack on Iran before the elections in Israel.”
- Netanyahu’s office Called a similar Channel 12 report “fake news.”
- Opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot, on X “Netanyahu, my eyes are on you.”
On Oct. 18, Trump endorsed Netanyahu, writing that if Israel picked “anyone other than Bibi, America will have to do this work ourselves, and I am not inclined to do so.”