Judge Trevor McFadden took James Comey's motion to dismiss the Espionage Act information under advisement.

An information is a prosecutor's charging document. It is not a grand-jury indictment, and it is not a conviction. McFadden did not grant or deny the motion on Friday. The fight is whether filing that information on the last day of a 10-year limitations period lets the government keep seeking an indictment, and the two accounts do not print the same thing about whether prosecutors are in front of a grand jury now.

CBS News, in a story by Jacob Rosen updated Oct. 30, 2026, at 2:03 p.m. EDT, with Joe Walsh contributing, reported that lawyers for former FBI Director James Comey argued Friday in federal court in Washington that the Justice Department's latest attempt to prosecute him should be dismissed as untimely. It reported prosecutors are seeking to charge him for a third time, alleging he violated the Espionage Act by leaking national defense information in connection with a 2016 New York Times article. It reported he has not been formally charged by criminal complaint or indicted by a grand jury on that allegation. It reported prosecutors instead filed a criminal information earlier this month, which does not require grand-jury approval or a magistrate's finding of probable cause, and that the department said it did so to preserve the case before a 10-year statute of limitations ran out. MS NOW, in a story by Fallon Gallagher and Casey Gannon published Oct. 30, 2026, at 3:13 p.m. EDT, reported that prosecutors charged him in Washington with unlawfully transmitting national defense information to an unauthorized person and with conspiracy to commit that offense, that those two charges were unsealed by Judge Trevor McFadden on Monday, and that he has not entered a plea. A criminal information, which both accounts describe, and an indictment, which both say has not been returned on this allegation, are not the same instrument. CBS News did not print the conspiracy count. MS NOW did.

CBS News reported Comey was not in court. MS NOW reported the same. CBS News reported his lawyers said in a Monday statement that he "steadfastly maintains his innocence." Ephraim McDowell, arguing for Comey, told Judge McFadden, in the words CBS News printed, "the criminal information in this case is time-barred and must be dismissed," and "The government is wrong and the statute of limitations has run." CBS News reported he called the government's reading of the statutes "a gerrymandered reading," and that the defense filings say the department missed a five-year limitations period for one potential crime and then filed on the last day of a 10-year period under a separate statute. MS NOW reported McDowell said the situation is "hanging over Mr. Comey's head" and, answering an argument that Congress would have to amend the statute, "The government is wrong." CBS News reported the alleged disclosure was on Oct. 5, 2016, that two U.S. attorneys' offices investigated it and declined to charge, and that Justice Department lawyer Dustin Farahnak, based in Texas, argued the government paused the clock by filing the information on Oct. 5, the last day before the 10-year period expired. MS NOW reported the charges were brought exactly 10 years after the alleged conduct and that the defense filing said the information centers on an alleged disclosure of classified information to the New York Times on Oct. 5, 2016, investigated by two U.S. attorneys who both declined to prosecute. Five years and 10 years, in the CBS News account of the filings, are not the same period.

CBS News reported Farahnak said the investigation has uncovered additional "overt acts" after Oct. 5, 2016, that he gave no details because of grand-jury secrecy, and that he told the judge, "We reached new evidence and we had a clock problem," and that the department is "still going to the grand jury diligently." MS NOW reported he asked the court to consider the timing while prosecutors continue to seek a grand jury indictment, and that he said, "I'm just having my cards on the table," and "We looked into the law and followed it." MS NOW also reported that court filings say a department lawyer had planned to seek an indictment and then decided to wait until the dismissal motion was resolved, and that the department's filing called the defense reading "mistaken" and the motion premature because "this prosecution proceeds currently by an Information, and there is no indictment to be dismissed." Still going to the grand jury, which CBS News reported he said in court, and a filing that said the department would wait for the motion, which MS NOW reported, are not the same account of the timing. CBS News reported that after an emergency hearing earlier this month the department agreed not to seek an indictment for 30 days. MS NOW did not print that 30-day agreement.

CBS News reported Judge McFadden, whom it identified as a Trump nominee, asked, "Aren't we getting a little ahead of ourselves?" and declined to rule immediately, saying the case turned on novel issues. It reported he said, "It turns out a ham sandwich is harder to indict these days," and "I will be extremely frustrated if there is a dawn raid … outside of Mr. Comey's home." MS NOW reported a 90-minute hearing, that he said, "I'm a district judge, I have to be practical," and "Grand juries do surprising things," and that at the end he took the matter under advisement without saying when he would rule. It reported he said the government can continue the investigation while he considers the ruling, and that he would be "extremely frustrated" to learn of a raid on Comey's house. A ham-sandwich line, which CBS News printed, and "Grand juries do surprising things," which MS NOW printed, are not the same quotation. Under advisement, which MS NOW printed, and a declined immediate ruling on novel issues, which CBS News printed, are two descriptions of the same unfinished motion. CBS News reported McDowell said FBI agents have been stationed outside Comey's home. MS NOW reported he said agents have been situated outside the home. Stationed and situated are the two verbs those stories used. CBS News reported this is the third case in over a year: a September 2025 indictment for lying to Congress, later dismissed because the Trump-appointed prosecutor who brought it was unlawfully appointed, and a charge earlier this year over a social-media post of seashells arranged to say "86 47," which the defense has asked a North Carolina judge to dismiss as selective and vindictive prosecution. That judge, CBS News reported, has not ruled. MS NOW reported the lying-to-Congress case was in Virginia, that he pleaded not guilty, and that it was dismissed because the sole prosecutor who signed the indictment had been unlawfully appointed. It reported the seashell charge was filed in April, that he has not entered a plea in that case, and that he will not do so until at least January. Virginia, which MS NOW printed, is a place CBS News did not print. January, which MS NOW printed for the seashell plea, is a date CBS News did not print. Friday's hearing did not decide any of those cases. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.