James Comey's lawyers will ask a US judge 'to throw out' the Justice Department's THIRD criminal case against him

Comey's legal team will argue before US District Judge Trevor McFadden in Washington on Friday that the Trump Justice Department's Espionage Act filing is invalid — the third criminal effort against the former FBI director and Trump's most outspoken institutional critic. Prosecutors allege Comey transmitted national defence information to someone not authorised to receive it, tied to a 2016 New York Times article. The case was twice previously investigated and dropped without charges.

The DOJ bypassed a grand jury, filing a rarely-used "criminal information" document — a move Comey's lawyers call legally "faulty" and time-barred.

Two separate US attorneys' offices previously investigated the same 2016 alleged leak and both declined to prosecute.

A separate pending indictment already charges Comey over an Instagram photo of seashells arranged as "86 47" — slang for getting rid of the 47th president.