Choose in Comey case admonishes Justice Division for “indict first, examine second” posture

A federal choose on Wednesday criticized the Justice Division’s prosecution of former FBI Director James Comey, saying he was involved by the division’s “extremely uncommon” dealing with of the case by shifting to “indict first, examine second.”

Justice of the Peace Choose William Fitzpatrick in Alexandria, Virginia, additionally ordered the Justice Division to show over all grand jury proof and different supplies to Comey’s authorized staff by shut of enterprise Thursday, underlining his obvious criticism of federal prosecutors’s actions within the case.

Comey was indicted final month after public strain from President Trump on Lawyer Normal Pam Bondi and the Justice Division, and is charged with one rely of constructing false statements and one rely of obstruction of justice, associated to Senate testimony he gave nearly 5 years in the past pertaining as to whether or not Comey had approved leaks to the media throughout his time as FBI director.

The 2-page indictment accuses the previous FBI director of falsely telling lawmakers that he by no means gave anyone on the FBI permission to function an nameless supply in information reviews in regards to the bureau’s investigation into Hillary Clinton. That alleged nameless supply is Daniel Richman, a longtime good friend of Comey’s and a Columbia College regulation professor. Richman’s title didn’t come up within the Senate testimony that led to fees in opposition to Comey.

The proof at concern Wednesday is troves of knowledge that the Justice Division gathered between 2019 and 2020 in a previous Justice Division investigation in the course of the first Trump administration often called “Arctic Haze.”

The investigation, detailed in a memo declassified by the bureau earlier this 12 months, sought to determine how labeled particulars on the FBI’s investigation into Clinton’s use of a personal e-mail server made their manner right into a 2017 New York Instances article, which checked out Comey’s decision-making whereas main the politically fraught probe. Nobody was charged within the investigation.

One in all Comey’s attorneys, Rebekah Donaleski, mentioned there are 4 totally different warrants that had been executed on Richman within the “Arctic Haze” investigation that she is aware of of and proof returned from these seizures may very well be used as a part of the Justice Division’s case in opposition to Comey. She mentioned no person on Comey’s authorized staff has been given entry to that data but, they usually haven’t been capable of display screen that knowledge, which incorporates exhausting drives and telephone and e-mail information, for probably privileged data that might have been used within the indictment.

Comey attended the listening to however didn’t communicate.

Nathaniel Lemons, a North Carolina primarily based assistant U.S. legal professional who was tapped to steer the prosecution in Virginia alongside Trump-appointed U.S. Lawyer Lindsey Halligan, argued for the Justice Division on Wednesday. 

Lemons mentioned the supplies are “remoted on a desk in FBI headquarters” and that investigators had been “not going to the touch this proof till the courtroom approves” a plan for dealing with it. 

Fitzpatrick ordered the Justice Division to not take a look at the fabric themselves till the courtroom resolves any potential privilege claims asserted by Comey and his authorized staff, and mentioned that the Justice Division can use proof it believes to not be privileged “at their very own threat.”

Donaleski mentioned she is “gravely involved” in regards to the Justice Division’s dealing with of the proof, and mentioned it’s attainable that the best way data has been withheld on this case to this point is unconstitutional and in violation of the Fourth Modification. 

“We will repair that, and we’ll repair that right now,” the choose mentioned, including that Comey’s authorized staff is “entitled to this data rapidly.”

Patrick Fitzgerald, one other legal professional for Comey, mentioned that they’re working by means of huge quantities of proof within the case, which incorporates labeled data. Fitzgerald mentioned he has not been capable of entry that labeled data but as a result of he has confronted delays in getting his safety clearance authorised.