Over the last month, a legal fight has been playing out behind closed doors about the Department of Justice’s ongoing investigation into former FBI Director James Comey over the alleged mishandling of classified information dating back more than a decade ago.

According to newly unsealed court records, prosecutors allege that Comey broke the law by directing FBI staff to leak information to a New York Times reporter for an article published on Oct. 5, 2016, titled “Yahoo Said to Have Aided U.S. Email Surveillance by Adapting Spam Filter.”

“The United States' investigation has uncovered evidence that former FBI Director, James B. Comey, sought to correct misinformation which had appeared in the press by way of Reuters the day before,” prosecutors wrote in their response to Comey’s motion to dismiss earlier this month. “Mr.…