Opinion | The Comey case is just the latest chapter in the Espionage Act's troubling history – MS NOW

Opinion | The Comey case is just the latest chapter in the Espionage Act’s troubling history  MS NOW

The latest charges against James Comey, made public Monday, accuse the former FBI director of transmitting national defense information in violation of the Espionage Act. Prosecutors say Comey directed staffers to talk to the New York Times about a Reuters story regarding email surveillance that Comey believed to be inaccurate — an allegation that doesn’t sound much like espionage. The Comey case may be short-lived, as prosecutors appear to have blown their deadline to bring charges, but it’s the latest example of the Espionage Act being used for politicized prosecutions and government efforts to silence whistleblowers. The statute has been employed by and against officials from both political parties: President Donald Trump was charged under the law for hiding classified documents in a Mar-a-Lago bathroom; former President Joe Biden was investigated under it for retaining a smaller set of files.

Hillary Clinton was investigated for potential violation of the law for using private email servers to conduct official business as secretary of state. More recently, former national security adviser John Bolton was charged under the act over his retention of diary entries for his book. (He pleaded guilty in June.) So how did this archaic statute become the go-to weapon for political and censorial prosecutions? The provision of the Espionage Act used against Comey and many others, which is only