At a hearing in federal court, prosecutors defended an unusual, 11th-hour criminal case accusing the former F.B.I. director of leaking classified information a decade ago.

© Monica Jorge for The New York Times

Federal judge to hear arguments on Friday over leak case that was twice previously investigated with no action taken

Lawyers for the former FBI director James Comey will ask a federal judge on Friday to block the US justice department from pursuing its third criminal case against him.

Comey is an outspoken critic of Donald Trump, in open feud since the US president fired him from that post early in his first term, and he is a frequent target of Republican outrage.

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© Photograph: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

© Photograph: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

© Photograph: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

Federal judge to hear arguments on Friday over leak case that was twice previously investigated with no action taken

Lawyers for the former FBI director James Comey will ask a federal judge on Friday to block the US justice department from pursuing its third criminal case against him.

Comey is an outspoken critic of Donald Trump, in open feud since the US president fired him from that post early in his first term, and he is a frequent target of Republican outrage.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

© Photograph: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

© Photograph: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

Defense lawyers and Democrats say a blitz of headline-making actions and cases is no coincidence and reeks of politics — in both the timing and the targets.

Together, they have pursued cases against the president’s enemies and protesters and amplified false claims of widespread election fraud, often citing thin evidence.

© Ronaldo Bolaños/Los Angeles Times, via Getty Images

In some cases, court paperwork bears unmistakable signs of urgency — typos, unorthodox tactics and the signatures of the department’s senior political leadership.

© Steve Helber/Associated Press

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Speaking to reporters on the tarmac before departing for a campaign event in Michigan, JD Vance responded to a question about President Trump’s remarks branding Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed as a “jihadist.”

Vance, who has sparred with the progressive El-Sayed repeatedly on the campaign trail, took a somewhat softer tone. But he didn’t walk away from Trump’s remarks.

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© Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP

© Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP

© Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP

Lawyers for James B. Comey said the case centered on an issue that had already been investigated and had not led to charges, of a purported leak of national security information to The Times in October 2016.

© Doug Mills/The New York Times

The Trump administration is attempting to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey for what it calls disclosing classified information, employing the unusual maneuver of bypassing a grand jury.

The judge noted that Comey had worked on some of the nation's highest-profile cases and consistently received stellar reviews.

Ms. Comey, the daughter of James Comey, the former director of the F.B.I., worked for the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan, handling the prosecutions of Jeffrey Epstein and Sean Combs.

© Jefferson Siegel for The New York Times