WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is actively working to secure a grand jury indictment against former FBI Director James Comey for allegedly directing the sharing of secret national defense information, a federal prosecutor said in court Friday.

“We are still going to the grand jury very diligently,” Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Dustin Farahnak said in a hearing at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The proceeding focused on Comey’s motion to toss a criminal information — a charging document — filed in Washington on the eve the statute of limitations was set to expire.

Comey, a frequent DOJ target under the second Trump administration, is accused of being involved in the communication of classified information to The New York Times in October 2016. DOJ said it filed the charging document “to toll the statute of limitations” as it relates to the allegations.

Comey’s attorneys argue the criminal information is untimely and that the statute requires an indictment be filed within the 10 years.

Farahnak told Judge Trevor McFadden that the grand jury process is still playing out, and that DOJ has evidence showing potential additional actions that would fall within the statute of limitations, including as recently as April 2017.

DOJ is attempting to keep the prosecution alive as Comey’s attorneys push for McFadden to not wait for an indictment to toss the case. Ephraim McDowell of Cooley LLP noted in court Friday that FBI agents have been spotted outside his house.

There shouldn’t be an arrest “threat hanging over Mr. Comey’s head,” McDowell said.

The legal battle comes as Comey is trying to get a separate case tossed against him in the Eastern District of North Carolina. The U.S. attorney’s office there has accused Comey of threatening President Donald Trump’s life in a now-deleted 2025 social media post of seashells on a beach arranged into “86 47.”

McFadden earlier this week granted Comey’s motion to unseal the latest prosecution attempt against him. Comey, who wasn’t present in the courtroom Friday, said in a Substack video earlier this week that he’s “still innocent,” and “still not afraid of these people.”

It was unclear how McFadden, who was appointed to the bench during the first Trump administration, planned to rule on the motion to dismiss. He questioned both sides on whether it was timely to rule on the motion now and if the issue would be moot if DOJ subsequently secures a grand jury indictment.

McDowell pushed for the judge to rule now, arguing that a lack of action means DOJ could keep trying to secure a grand jury indictment on the allegations indefinitely.

DOJ had previously indicated it wished to seek a grand jury indictment on Oct. 9, but ultimately agreed to not do so for 30 days while the motion to dismiss was pending, according to Comey’s Oct. 16 dismissal motion.

McFadden said he was taking the motion under advisement and cautioned Farahnak on his plans for moving forward with the case while the parties await a ruling.

“I’m not directing you to not proceed with the grand jury in the meantime,” but “I will be extremely frustrated if there is some dawn raid” at “Mr. Comey’s home,” McFadden said.

Farahnak promised the judge such an action wouldn’t occur, adding, “we’re not going to do anything that would affect the court.”

The case is USA v. Comey, D.D.C., No. 1:26-cr-00229, 10/30/26.

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