Is the third time the charm? Well, that depends on the endeavor being attempted. But the Elitist Media have made it clear that as far as attempted prosecutions of James Comey go, they’re sorely displeased.
Each of the broadcast network evening newscasts took turns attacking the investigation. Here is ABC’s brief to kick off World News Tonight:
WATCH: @ABCWorldNews kicks off with a brief on potential new charges for former FBI Director James Comey
DAVID MUIR: We begin tonight with the breaking headline at this hour, just one week before the midterms. And just in, we have learned the Justice Department is now seeking… pic.twitter.com/KmI8MfIXqi— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) October 27, 2026
ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT
10/26/26
6:32 PM
DAVID MUIR: We begin tonight with the breaking headline at this hour, just one week before the midterms. And just in, we have learned the Justice Department is now seeking new charges against former FBI Director James Comey, seeking to indict him now for a third time. Comey, a frequent target of President Trump. Let's get right to our Chief Justice Correspondent, Pierre Thomas, with us live tonight. Pierre, what have you learned?
PIERRE THOMAS: David, newly unsealed court documents reveal today that DoJ is seeking to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey for a third time, accusing him of allegedly disclosing national security information in 2016. The investigation into Comey relates to information published in The New York Times that DoJ believes contained classified material. Comey's attorney fired back in a statement, saying the investigation is the latest in a long line of moves to harass his client, long one of President Trump's top political targets. Comey today posted a video calling the newly revealed investigation “an appalling abuse by DoJ”, and it comes on the same day a judge ruled Comey's daughter Maureen was illegally fired and should be reinstated as a federal prosecutor. The fight between Comey and Trump continues, David.
MUIR: Pierre Thomas leading us off here on a Monday night. Pierre, thanks.
It was a short report, but ABC made sure to get all the points in. “Third time,” “frequent target of President Trump,” “top political target.” The retribution frame is cast very ham-handedly and throughout the brief, with a single sentence addressing the events that led to the underlying charges. The brief closes out with Pierre Thomas describing it as a fight between Comey and trump.
CBS’s reporting is even briefer on the Evening News. It’s just Tony Dokoupil doing a quick read:
CBS EVENING NEWS
10/26/26
6:38 PM
TONY DOKOUPIL: In other news, the Trump Justice Department is trying for the third time in just over a year to hit former FBI Director James Comey with federal criminal charges. This time he's accused of a decade-old leak of a national security document, the new charges coming within hours of a federal judge in Manhattan ruling that the Trump Justice Department had illegally fired Comey's daughter Maureen Comey and ordered her reinstated with back pay.
Here again we see the “third attempt” frame. The classified leak is dismissed as old, and the report is tied into the ruling reinstating Maureen Comey to the DoJ.
NBC’s report was the most extensive of the three, with detailed descriptions of the event that led to the information being filed. This is the only mention of there being, perhaps, an issue with the statute of limitations. Nonetheless, there is still the very heavy “retribution” frame.
The Elitist Media’s coverage of these potential new charges against James Comey are inversely proportional to the level of attention they gave to the various federal prosecutions of President Trump. Those were framed as accountability in defense of Democracy™. Comey’s prosecutions are never NOT “retribution.”
The double standard remains undefeated.
Click “expand” to view the transcript of the aforementioned report as aired on NBC Nightly News on Monday, October 26th, 2026:
NBC NIGHTLY NEWS
10/26/26
6:32 PM
TOM LLAMAS: Former FBI director James Comey charged again, this time over an alleged leak of national defense going back to 2016. Prosecutors now accusing him of instructing staff to share classified information with the press. The case, just unsealed today by a U.S. district judge after Comey requested it be made public. It marks the Trump administration's third federal case against Comey, who became a target of President Trump after launching the FBI's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Comey is now speaking out tonight on these latest charges, claiming he's innocent and calling them “an appalling abuse of the Justice Department”. Laura Jarrett has been following this for us. She starts us off, and this was unveiled late tonight?
LAURA JARRETT: It was, Tom. It was a dramatic new escalation against the former FBI Director, James Comey, now facing new criminal allegations. This marks the third time he is now facing allegations from federal prosecutors. This one where prosecutors say back in 2016, Comey sought to correct misinformation. It was in a Reuters article. It was about national security. So he allegedly directed his staff at the FBI to speak with a different reporter. A reporter at The New York Times. And prosecutors now say he actually illegally transferred- or had classified information transferred to that reporter against the law. Now, his legal team pushing back hard tonight saying this case should be dismissed because it's barred by the statute of limitations. So it's a technical defense here. The president, of course, repeatedly gone after Comey many times. Comey, in turn, a fierce critic of this president. Criminal charges, people will remember, been filed twice against the former FBI director. The most recent one having to do with a social media post where Comey arranged seashells on a beach to say “8647”, which prosecutors said constituted a threat against President Trump.
There was another case. People might remember that one was dismissed. In that case, Comey was accused of making false statements to Congress, which he denied. As Tom mentioned, he’s put out a video saying he's innocent, saying that prosecutors are back again, saying it's “an appalling abuse of the Justice Department”, one that we cannot become numb to. Tom.
LLAMAS: And there's a bit of more news, right? You also have a headline on James Comey's daughter tonight?
JARRETT: Yes. Here in New York, a federal judge has actually found that Maureen Comey was wrongly dismissed. She had said that was a violation of her due process rights, saying she was only fired because of who her father was.
LLAMAS: She’s getting her job back.
JARRETT: She is at least getting back pay for now. Not clear she wants her job back.
LLAMAS: All right. Laura Jarrett for us. Laura, thank you.
