Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. (YouTube)

(CNSNews.com) -- The government watchdog group Judicial Watch announced on Tuesday that it had filed a lawsuit against the Justice Department to obtain, under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the FBI's pre-publication review and related documents concerning former FBI Director James Comey's new book, A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership.

“James Comey illegally took and then leaked material from his FBI memos in order to get a Special Counsel appointed to target President Trump," said Judicial Watch President Tim Fitton in a statement.

"And so now Judicial Watch is asking questions about whether James Comey is getting special treatment from the FBI to use these ill-gotten FBI documents in his book,” he said.

Comey reportedly received a $2 million-plus advance for his book, which is published by Flatiron Books. Under the rules, former FBI officials are usually required to submit their book manuscripts for review before they are published.

Former FBI Director James Comey, who was fired by President Donald Trump in May 2017. (YouTube)

In the FOIA lawsuit, Judicial Watch is seeking the following material:

"All records of communications between the FBI and former FBI director James Comey relating to an upcoming book to be authored by Mr. Comey and published.

"All records, including but not limited to forms completed by former FBI director James Comey, relating to the requirement for prepublication review by the FBI of any book to be authored by Comey with the intent to be published or otherwise publicly available."

In its April 17 press statement, Judicial Watch noted that during an April 15 interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos, former FBI Director Comey admitted that he leaked his own memos to the media in order to trigger the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate President Donald Trump.

“Look, it's true," said Comey, "I gave that unclassified memo to my (friend), who was also acting as my lawyer, but this wasn't a lawyer task, and asked him to give it to a reporter.”