Washington — A federal Justice of the Peace choose on Monday ordered federal prosecutors to show over all grand jury materials to former FBI Director James Comey’s protection workforce, harshly criticizing the Justice Division for a “disturbing sample of profound investigative missteps” in its dealing with of the case towards the ex-FBI chief.
U.S. Justice of the Peace Choose William Fitzpatrick allowed Comey’s authorized workforce to get entry to all grand jury supplies, together with transcripts and proof offered to the grand jury that indicted Comey on two prices regarding previous testimony to Congress. Fitzpatrick additionally ordered the Justice Division to show over the whole audio recordings of the proceedings to Comey’s authorized workforce.
Comey has pleaded not responsible to each counts, which stem from alleged misstatements he made to the Senate Judiciary Committee throughout a September 2020 listening to. The previous FBI director was indicted simply days earlier than the statute of limitations on these offenses ran out.
The choose acknowledged the magnitude of his resolution to permit Comey’s legal professionals entry to the grand jury materials, which is often stored secret, writing in a scathing 24-page resolution that he’s granting an “extraordinary treatment” to totally defend Comey’s authorized rights. Fitzpatrick mentioned such a step is warranted due to “the prospect that authorities misconduct could have tainted the grand jury proceedings.”
“The Court docket acknowledges that the aid sought by the protection is never granted,” he wrote. “Nonetheless, the document factors to a disturbing sample of profound investigative missteps, missteps that led an FBI agent and a prosecutor to doubtlessly undermine the integrity of the grand jury continuing.
Fitzpatrick wrote that “procedural and substantive irregularities that occurred earlier than the grand jury, and the style through which proof offered to the grand jury was collected and used, could rise to the extent of presidency misconduct leading to prejudice to Mr. Comey.”
The U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the Jap District of Virginia, which is prosecuting Comey, didn’t instantly return a request for remark. The Justice Division had no remark.
Fitzpatrick’s position within the case stems from the federal government’s request to implement a filter protocol to control its dealing with and the disclosure of probably privileged materials that was seized in 2019 and 2020 as a part of a separate investigation and was by no means returned. Comey’s workforce opposed the transfer and argued that the knowledge the federal government needed to assessment was improperly retained after the top of that earlier investigation and improperly used within the probe involving Comey.
The ex-FBI director is in search of entry to the grand-jury materials as a part of a bid to have the indictment dismissed due to alleged irregularities in these proceedings.
At a listening to earlier this month, Fitzpatrick admonished the Justice Division for what he mentioned is its posture to “indict first, examine second.”
Fitzpatrick himself reviewed the grand jury supplies and wrote in his resolution that he recognized two statements Lindsey Halligan, the interim U.S. lawyer within the Jap District of Virginia, made to the grand jurors that “on their face look like basic misstatements of the legislation that might compromise the integrity of the grand jury course of.”
Parts of the choice — together with Halligan’s feedback — are redacted, however Fitzpatrick mentioned each have been made in response to questions from grand jurors and are “immediately associated to communications involving Comey.”
Fitzpatrick mentioned one assertion Halligan made to the grand jury “suggests” that Comey doesn’t have a constitutional proper to not testify at trial. The second comment from Halligan urged that the grand jury “didn’t should depend on solely the document earlier than them” and that there was “extra proof — maybe higher proof” that the Justice Division had that will be used at trial, the choose mentioned.
The fabric at situation was seized by the FBI in 2019 and 2020 in response to court-authorized search warrants for accounts and units belonging to Daniel Richman, a legislation professor at Columbia College who’s a pal of Comey. Richman labored as a particular authorities worker on the FBI throughout Comey’s tenure as director, and was his personal lawyer as of Might 2017, when Mr. Trump fired Comey throughout his first time period.
Fitzpatrick mentioned the supplies seized from Richman have been the “cornerstone” of Halligan’s presentation to the grand jury that voted to indict Comey, although that they had been retrieved 5 years earlier as a part of the separate investigation that has since been closed.
The federal government additionally seems to have entry to info it seized from Richman that was outdoors the scope of the search warrants, the choose mentioned, although brokers had been instructed to seal any info that didn’t fall inside the contours of the warrants.
“The federal government seems to have conflated its obligation to guard privileged info – an obligation it approached casually at finest on this case – with its obligation to grab solely these supplies approved by the Court docket,” he wrote. “This cavalier perspective in direction of a primary tenet of the Fourth Modification and a number of court docket orders left the federal government unchecked to rummage by way of all the info seized from Mr. Richman, and apparently, within the authorities’s eyes, to take action once more anytime they selected.”
Whereas the investigation involving Richman was closed in September 2021 and no prices have been filed, the bureau “selected to rummage by way of” the seized materials once more this summer season, when the FBI and U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the Jap District of Virginia started a prison investigation into Comey, the choose mentioned.
Fitzpatrick wrote that regardless of the investigation into Comey beginning this yr, “inexplicably, the federal government elected to not search a brand new warrant for the 2025 search,” of Richman’s units, “although the 2025 investigation was targeted on a special particular person, was exploring a essentially completely different authorized concept, and was predicated on a completely completely different set of prison offenses.”
If the Justice Division had sought new warrants, Fitzpatrick wrote it doubtless would have resulted in “a delay the investigative workforce couldn’t afford provided that the statute of limitations would expire in a mere 18 days.” Moreover, the choose mentioned the parameters of a 2025 search would doubtless have been narrower in scope than the unique warrants approved for Richman’s units and accounts.
The push to prosecute Comey over his testimony within the face of the statute of limitations operating out additionally resulted within the appointment of one among Mr. Trump’s former aides and private attorneys, Halligan, to steer the federal prosecutor’s workplace within the Jap District of Virginia. Each Comey and New York Lawyer Basic Letitia James, who was additionally indicted underneath Halligan’s supervision, are difficult her appointment as unconstitutional.
James was indicted on prices of financial institution fraud final month and pleaded not responsible.
Halligan appeared earlier than the grand jury on Sept. 25, however Fitzpatrick mentioned that very same day, earlier than her presentation, an unidentified FBI agent alerted the lead case agent and a lawyer with the FBI’s Workplace of Basic Counsel that proof obtained throughout the investigation into Comey could have been topic to attorney-client privilege or represent attorney-client confidential info.
However as an alternative of eradicating himself from the investigative workforce till any potential points have been resolved, the choose mentioned the lead case agent appeared earlier than the grand jury “undeterred” and testified in help of bringing prices towards Comey. That federal agent was the one particular person to testify earlier than the grand jury.
“The federal government’s resolution to permit an agent who was uncovered to doubtlessly privileged info to testify earlier than a grand jury is extremely irregular and a radical departure from previous DOJ follow,” Fitzpatrick wrote.
Fitzpatrick’s findings Monday are amongst quite a few authorized threads which have imperiled the Comey prosecution.
Final week, a South Carolina federal choose heard arguments from each Comey’s and James’ authorized groups on the legality of Halligan’s appointment to steer the Jap District of Virginia, with each requesting the choose dismiss the indictments towards them as a result of Halligan’s appointment was illegal. The choose overseeing that argument mentioned she may have a ruling by subsequent week.
In the meantime, Comey’s attorneys can be again in court docket Wednesday, the place they are going to argue that the indictment towards Comey was “vindictive and selective” and may individually be dismissed on these grounds.
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