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.

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

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