U.S. Politics · Courts · 52 outlets (L 12 · C 14 · R 21 · 5 not rated)
James Comey charged with leaking national defense information for third time
The Justice Department charged former FBI Director James Comey with transmitting national defense information and conspiring to do so, in court documents unsealed Monday.[28, 46, 58] The two-count case relates to an alleged disclosure of national security information to The New York Times in October 2016, according to Comey's lawyers and multiple outlets.[7, 17, 71] It is the third time the Trump administration has charged Comey, who was fired during Trump's first term in 2017.[13, 21, 70]
Comey's lawyers dismissed the case as invalid and outside the time limit for filing charges, according to the AP and NPR.[8, 38] Comey said in a Monday Substack post that the charges were an "appalling abuse" of the Justice Department.[33] Comey was last charged in April for allegedly threatening President Donald Trump's life in a social media post, Forbes reported.[26]
Covered by The New York Times, NBC News, The Wall Street Journal and 49 more
Read first James Comey faces two new federal charges
Where accounts differ (1)
- FramingFormer prosecutor Mimi Rocah called the case part of a "pattern of harassment" by Trump's Justice Department, while right-leaning outlets described the charges without such characterization, with The Right Scoop writing that Comey was "CRIMINALLY CHARGED with leaking national defense information."[9, 61]
- Raw Story · Leans left · Oct 26, 6:30 p.m. ET ‘No words’: Ex-prosecutor astounded as DOJ unseals new charges against Trump foe
Former federal prosecutor Mimi Rocah blasted President Donald Trump’s Justice Department on Monday after former FBI Director James Comey was hit with a third round of criminal charges, calling the latest case part of a…
- The Right Scoop · Right · Oct 26, 7:59 p.m. ET BREAKING: James Comey CRIMINALLY CHARGED with leaking national defense information…
Former FBI Director James Comey was just criminally charged by the DOJ for both leaking national defense information and conspiring with someone else to leak classified information to the media. Here’s the . . .
- Raw Story · Leans left · Oct 26, 6:30 p.m. ET ‘No words’: Ex-prosecutor astounded as DOJ unseals new charges against Trump foe
How balanced is this coverage?
Of the 47 rated outlets that covered it, 12 are left of center (2 of them in the Left group), 14 are center and 21 are right of center (17 of them in the Right group). 5 more are not rated.
- Left: Vox (−1.32), Crooks and Liars (−1.26).
- Leans left: Daily Kos (−1.22), AlterNet (−1.16), The New Republic (−1.09), HuffPost (−1.06), Raw Story (−0.94), MS NOW (−0.76), The New York Times (−0.70), The Guardian (−0.70), NPR (−0.68), The Daily Beast (−0.64).
- Center: NBC News (−0.49), PBS NewsHour (−0.48), TIME (−0.40), Newsweek (−0.30), ABC News (−0.19), CBS News (−0.14), Axios (−0.05), Mediaite (+0.04), Yahoo News (+0.07), Bloomberg (+0.08), The Hill (+0.10), UPI (+0.17), Forbes (+0.19), CNBC (+0.40).
- Leans right: The Wall Street Journal (+0.63), New York Post (+0.64), RealClearPolitics (+0.87), Reason (+0.94).
- Right: PJ Media (+1.26), The Washington Times (+1.27), HotAir (+1.27), Washington Examiner (+1.34), Fox News (+1.52), IJR (+1.52), Twitchy (+1.58), Blaze Media (+1.71), RedState (+1.87), Breitbart (+2.03), The Daily Wire (+2.07), The Federalist (+2.13), The Western Journal (+2.13), The Daily Signal (+2.20), One America News Network (+2.69), Conservative Review (+2.76), The Right Scoop (+3.11).
Not rated Al Jazeera, BBC News, Financial Times, Sky News, Los Angeles Times. Not placed: they have no lean score.
Each dot is an outlet that covered it, placed by its audience-lean score (Eady et al. 2025), which measures who shares its links, not how accurate it is. The ticks under the line are all 113 rated outlets Tare reads.