Wire reporting: (AP, via Local 10)

A federal judge in Washington on Friday delayed a ruling on whether to dismiss a criminal information filed against former FBI Director James Comey, while Justice Department lawyers said they are presenting evidence to a grand jury over a 2016 news-media leak^2,3.

U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden did not immediately grant the defense request to throw out the charging document, known as a criminal information, after a hearing in which prosecutors said an indictment was still possible but not guaranteed^2,3.

The information, unsealed this week, alleges Comey violated the Espionage Act by transmitting national defense information in connection with an Oct. 5, 2016, New York Times report about a secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court order involving Yahoo^4,2.

Prosecutors said they filed the information as the 10-year limitations period was about to expire, arguing it can stand in for an indictment in a felony case and that later conduct may still fall within the clock^4,2.

Comey's lawyers say he did not waive his right to a grand jury, that an information without that waiver is invalid, and that the government had to obtain an indictment within 10 years^4,2. Comey's legal team wrote in filings that the information charging him should be dismissed as time barred⁴.

Defense counsel also said two earlier Justice Department reviews of the same 2016 disclosure, including work associated with prosecutor John Durham and a later District of Columbia inquiry, closed without charges^4,2. Comey has said he is innocent^4,2.

McFadden, according to the AP account, said he would be extremely frustrated by any pre-indictment arrest of Comey; a prosecutor said that would not happen^2,3. The judge held off on an immediate decision while the grand jury work continues^2,3.

The leak case is the department's third recent effort to charge Comey, whom President Donald Trump fired in 2017. A 2025 indictment alleging false statements to Congress was dismissed over the prosecutor's appointment; a separate case over an Instagram image remains pending^4,2. What a grand jury will do, and when McFadden will rule, is not yet known^2,4.