美司法部指控前联调局长科米涉嫌违反间谍法泄密DOJ Charges Former FBI Director James Comey Under Espionage Act

华盛顿特区联邦地区法院于10月26日应科米辩护团队的申请解封了该案相关记录。该份由司法部提交的文件列出两项刑事指控，均依据《间谍法》条款提起，具体包括明知而向无权获取的人员非法传播国防信息，以及与他人串谋实施向未经授权个人披露防务机密的行为。检方指控称，科米通过一名或多名共谋者指示未具名人员，向一家全国性出版物的记者披露国防信息。

Records unsealed on October 26 in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., at the request of James Comey's defense team, reveal two specific criminal counts brought under the Espionage Act. Prosecutors accuse the former FBI director of knowingly communicating national defense information to a person not entitled to receive it, alongside a second count of conspiring with others to carry out that unlawful disclosure. According to the charging text, Comey acted through one or more co-conspirators to direct an unnamed individual to disclose defense information to a reporter at a national news publication.

司法部并未召集大陪审团作出正式起诉裁决，也未通过地方法官签发确定存在犯罪可能理由的刑事起诉书，而是直接提交了一份刑事起诉书信息文件。检方此前在10月5日向法院提交该文件并要求予以封存，理由是公开指控可能会影响正在进行中的刑事调查，联邦地区法官特雷弗·麦克法登当天批准了封存请求。随着法庭文件解除封存，这场在未获大陪审团核准下采取的信息起诉程序被全面公之于众。

Rather than seeking a formal indictment through a grand jury or obtaining a finding of probable cause from a magistrate judge, the Justice Department utilized a criminal information filing. Prosecutors initially submitted the document under seal on October 5, arguing that immediate public disclosure would compromise an ongoing criminal investigation. U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden granted that sealing request on the same day. The public unsealing of the docket now exposes the legal mechanism undertaken by the government without prior grand jury approval.

检方在诉讼中披露的核心事由追溯至2016年10月5日《纽约时报》刊发的一篇报道，题为《据称雅虎通过改装垃圾邮件过滤器协助美方电子邮件监控》。该报道聚焦一份由外国情报监视法院法官签发的秘密情报指令，该指令要求雅虎扫描电子邮件系统中可能与外国恐怖组织存在关联的往来信息，且法律严禁雅虎对外公开披露该监控令的任何细节。文章发表时引述了两名要求匿名的政府官员作为消息来源。

The core allegations outlined by prosecutors trace back to an article published by The New York Times on October 5, 2016, titled "Yahoo Said to Have Aided U.S. Email Surveillance By Adapting Spam Filter." That reporting centered on a secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court order requiring Yahoo to scan emails for communications potentially tied to a foreign terrorist organization, a directive the internet company was legally prohibited from publicly disclosing. The published piece cited two unnamed government officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity regarding the classified court mandate.

司法部在指控材料中声称掌握了证据，显示科米当时试图纠正路透社在前一天报道中出现的错误信息。检方指出，科米指派并指示其下属工作人员主动联络《纽约时报》记者，就路透社报道的准确性进行沟通，这一指示最终导致机密防务信息被非法转交给未获授权的人员。辩护团队则坚持认为，科米从未实施起诉书中所称的犯罪行为。

According to filings from the Justice Department, prosecutors allege they uncovered evidence showing Comey sought to correct inaccurate reporting published by Reuters the preceding day. The government contends that Comey directed staff members to contact the Times reporter to discuss the accuracy of the Reuters dispatch, which authorities claim culminated in the unauthorized transmission of classified national defense information. Comey's defense maintains that he committed no federal crimes.

司法部针对其诉讼策略解释称，通过提交刑事起诉书来中止诉讼时效是联邦法院公认的做法，并已获得多家巡回上诉法院的核准。检方发言人对此表示，该案仍处于正在进行的刑事调查阶段，因此官方不会发表进一步评论。然而，科米的辩护律师团队在10月9日向法院递交的驳回申请中提出强烈抗辩，指出对于2016年10月5日发生的事项，联邦法律明确要求在10年时效内由大陪审团作出正式起诉，政府试图以提交存在缺陷的封存信息文件来冻结时效的做法不符合法定要件且已过追诉期。

The Department of Justice defended its charging approach by asserting that filing a criminal information to toll the statute of limitations is a widely recognized practice across federal courts that has received approval from multiple Circuit Courts of Appeals. A department spokesperson stated that the matter remains an ongoing criminal investigation and declined to comment further. In a motion to dismiss submitted on October 9, however, Comey's defense attorneys vigorously disputed that interpretation, arguing that federal law explicitly requires a grand jury indictment within the 10-year deadline for events tied to October 5, 2016, and accusing the government of attempting to freeze the limitations period through a faulty filing under seal.

科米的辩护律师帕特里克·菲茨杰拉德在提交给法院的文件中强调，相关泄密指控在过去10年内已由两位不同的联邦检察官主导过调查，两人最终均决定不予起诉。联邦当局早在2017年初便着手审查该披露行为，检察官约翰·达勒姆在2018年12月建议不提出刑事指控；随后于2019年启动的代号为“热带涡旋”的第二轮调查，也在2020年2月宣告结案且未对任何人提起指控。菲茨杰拉德指出，政府在过去两次调查中均认定不应对任何人提出起诉，而此次起诉书所指控的罪名科米根本未曾实施。

Comey's attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald, underscored to the court that the leak allegations were thoroughly examined by two separate U.S. attorneys over the past decade, both of whom formally declined to prosecute. Federal authorities first reviewed the disclosure in 2017, culminating in prosecutor John Durham recommending against criminal charges in December 2018. A second federal inquiry launched in 2019 under the code name "Tropical Vortex" was likewise closed in February 2020 without any charges. Fitzgerald emphasized that the government concluded in both instances that no charges should be brought against anyone, arguing that the current filing purports to charge Comey with crimes he did not commit.

针对司法部的最新指控，科米在周一发布的视频声明中坚称自己清白，并直言检方此举是对司法部的恶劣滥用。科米在视频中表示，这一切若非对司法部如此惊人的滥权，几乎显得滑稽，但他强调自己依然无罪，不畏惧这些人，并且依然信任独立的联邦司法体系。这位前联邦调查局局长在特朗普重返白宫后已先后经历三轮联邦指控，此前指控其向国会提供虚假陈述的起诉已被法官正式驳回，而另一起指控他在社交平台上发布由贝壳拼成“86 47”图案的照片以威胁特朗普总统生命的案件，目前科米仍在北卡罗来纳州联邦法院申请驳回。

Responding to the latest prosecution effort, Comey released a video statement on Monday reaffirming his innocence and denouncing the action as an appalling misuse of the Department of Justice. Comey stated that the recurring charges would be almost funny if they were not such an egregious institutional abuse, adding that he remains innocent, is not afraid of those targeting him, and maintains his confidence in an independent federal judiciary. The former FBI director has faced three criminal cases since Trump returned to the White House; an earlier indictment charging him with lying to Congress was successfully thrown out, while a separate indictment in North Carolina federal court accusing him of threatening Trump's life via a social media image of beach seashells arranged as '86 47' remains subject to a defense motion to dismiss.

此次指控的解封发生在下周举行中期选举的前夕，成为司法部近期展开的一系列具备政治争议色彩的调查行动之一。被问及针对科米的最新指控时，特朗普在周一晚间向媒体记者表示自己对此事刚刚获悉。自特朗普于2017年解除科米的联调局局长职务以来，两人多年来一直相互猛烈批评。科米律师团队在公开声明中强调，这是司法部在一年多内第三次试图指控科米犯下联邦罪行，科米自始至终坚守清白立场。

The unsealing of the Espionage Act allegations comes just ahead of next week's midterm elections, forming part of a broader set of politically sensitive investigative steps undertaken by the Justice Department. When questioned about the new criminal filing late Monday, Trump told reporters that he had just heard about the case. Trump fired Comey from his post as FBI director in 2017, and both men have remained persistent public critics of each other since. Comey's defense team noted that the filing represents the government's third attempt in just over a year to charge him with a federal crime, underscoring that their client steadfastly denies all charges.