On a Monday in late October, the Justice Department moved once again toward bringing charges against former FBI director James Comey, marking a third attempt to pursue him. Repeated efforts to charge the same person are rare, because charging decisions are usually meant to rest on a settled judgment about the evidence, and a return to that judgment a third time invites the question of why. CBS News's Justice Department reporter Sarah Lynch has taken up that question, though the available account leaves the charges, the court, and the reasons for the earlier attempts still unsettled.
Why the DOJ's Third Attempt to Charge James Comey Is Highly Unusual
A prosecution of the same person being pursued a third time.
Mark
So what actually happened on Monday?
Mimi
The Justice Department took steps to charge former FBI director James Comey, and it's the third time it has done so.
Mark
Why does the third time matter?
Mimi
CBS's Sarah Lynch calls the situation highly unusual. Going after the same person repeatedly is not how charging normally unfolds.
Luke
Careful, though. What does the reporting actually give us?
Mimi
Not much detail. The date, the count of attempts, and the characterization as unusual.
Luke
Right. We don't know what the charges are, which court is involved, or what "took steps" means procedurally. And "unusual" is Lynch's assessment, not a legal finding.
Mark
And the earlier two attempts?
Luke
Nothing in this material describes how they ended or why. Anyone claiming to know is going beyond it.
Mimi
So the thing to watch is whether this step moves forward in court, and what the department says to justify it.
Mark
Fair. A clear headline, a thin record.
Le Pouls
- The Justice Department has taken fresh steps toward charging James Comey, and this is already the third time it has tried.
- Repeated charging efforts against one former FBI director are drawing scrutiny because they break from the usual logic of a single settled decision.
- CBS's senior Justice Department reporter, Sarah Lynch, is explaining in a video why the pattern stands out so sharply.
- The next move is whether the new charging step gains traction in court, and how the department will justify returning to the effort again.
On a Monday in late October, the Justice Department moved once again toward bringing charges against former FBI director James Comey, marking a third attempt to pursue him. Repeated efforts to charge the same person are rare, because charging decisions are usually meant to rest on a settled judgment about the evidence, and a return to that judgment a third time invites the question of why. CBS News's Justice Department reporter Sarah Lynch has taken up that question, though the available account leaves the charges, the court, and the reasons for the earlier attempts still unsettled.
On Monday, the Justice Department took steps to charge former FBI director James Comey for a third time. The development was enough for CBS News to produce a video explainer in which senior Justice Department reporter Sarah Lynch walks through why the situation is so unusual.
The available material is brief. It confirms the Monday move, the third effort, and that Lynch is the one explaining why it stands out. It does not describe the charges, the court, the mechanics of Monday's step, or what happened in the two earlier attempts, and it does not give the department's stated reasons.
The central oddity is plain enough: the same person is being pursued repeatedly. Charging decisions are normally understood as the result of a settled judgment about the evidence, so a third attempt draws attention on its own. Comey's former role at the FBI adds weight to anything the department does against him.
The open questions are whether the new step advances in court and how the department justifies coming back to the effort a third time. Until those answers arrive, what can be said with confidence is that the step was taken, that it is the third, and that CBS's reporter considers the situation out of the ordinary.
On Monday, the Department of Justice took steps to charge former FBI director James Comey for the third time. CBS News published a video explainer on the development, in which senior Justice Department reporter Sarah Lynch walks through why the situation is so unusual.
The source material is thin, and it is worth being plain about what it does and does not say. It confirms that the Justice Department moved on Monday toward charging Comey, and that this is the third such effort. It confirms that Lynch, who covers the department for CBS News, is the one explaining why the circumstances stand out. The material available here does not lay out the content of the charges, the court involved, the procedural mechanics of Monday's step, or the specifics of what happened in the two earlier attempts.
What the framing itself makes clear is the central oddity: a prosecution of the same person being pursued a third time. Charging decisions are ordinarily treated as the product of a settled evidentiary judgment, and a repeated effort against one individual draws attention for that reason. CBS describes the move as highly unusual, and the explainer exists to say why.
Comey is the former director of the FBI, which adds weight to any action the department takes against him. The reader should keep in mind, though, that the source does not describe the allegations or the department's stated rationale, so those cannot be characterized here without going beyond what is known.
The forward questions are practical ones. One is whether the new charging step advances in court. Another is how the Justice Department justifies returning to the effort a third time. Until those answers surface, the most that can be said with confidence is that the step was taken on Monday, that it is the third, and that CBS's Justice Department reporter regards the situation as out of the ordinary.
Citations marquantes
The situation of the Justice Department moving to charge Comey a third time is highly unusual.— CBS News, paraphrasing reporter Sarah Lynch's analysis
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