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Washington — A national magistrate justice connected Monday ordered national prosecutors to crook implicit each expansive assemblage worldly to erstwhile FBI Director James Comey's defence team, harshly criticizing the Justice Department for a "disturbing signifier of profound investigative missteps" successful its handling of the lawsuit against the ex-FBI chief.
U.S. Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick allowed Comey's ineligible squad to get entree to each expansive assemblage materials, including transcripts and grounds presented to the expansive assemblage that indicted Comey connected two charges relating to past grounds to Congress. Fitzpatrick besides ordered the Justice Department to crook implicit the implicit audio recordings of the proceedings to Comey's ineligible team.
Comey has pleaded not guilty to some counts, which stem from alleged misstatements helium made to the Senate Judiciary Committee during a September 2020 hearing. The erstwhile FBI manager was indicted conscionable days earlier the statute of limitations connected those offenses ran out.
The justice recognized the magnitude of his determination to let Comey's lawyers entree to the expansive assemblage material, which is typically kept secret, penning successful a scathing 24-page decision that helium is granting an "extraordinary remedy" to afloat support Comey's ineligible rights. Fitzpatrick said specified a measurement is warranted due to the fact that of "the imaginable that authorities misconduct whitethorn person tainted the expansive assemblage proceedings."
"The Court recognizes that the alleviation sought by the defence is seldom granted," helium wrote. "However, the grounds points to a disturbing signifier of profound investigative missteps, missteps that led an FBI cause and a authoritative to perchance undermine the integrity of the expansive assemblage proceeding.
Fitzpatrick wrote that "procedural and substantive irregularities that occurred earlier the expansive jury, and the mode successful which grounds presented to the expansive assemblage was collected and used, whitethorn emergence to the level of authorities misconduct resulting successful prejudice to Mr. Comey."
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, which is prosecuting Comey, did not instantly instrumentality a petition for comment. The Justice Department had nary comment.
Fitzpatrick's relation successful the lawsuit stems from the government's petition to instrumentality a filter protocol to govern its handling and the disclosure of perchance privileged worldly that was seized successful 2019 and 2020 arsenic portion of a abstracted probe and was ne'er returned. Comey's squad opposed the determination and argued that the accusation the authorities wanted to reappraisal was improperly retained aft the extremity of that earlier probe and improperly utilized successful the probe involving Comey.
The ex-FBI manager is seeking entree to the grand-jury worldly arsenic portion of a bid to person the indictment dismissed due to the fact that of alleged irregularities successful those proceedings.
At a proceeding earlier this month, Fitzpatrick admonished the Justice Department for what helium said is its posture to "indict first, analyse second."
Fitzpatrick himself reviewed the expansive assemblage materials and wrote successful his determination that helium identified 2 statements Lindsey Halligan, the interim U.S. lawyer successful the Eastern District of Virginia, made to the expansive jurors that "on their look look to beryllium cardinal misstatements of the instrumentality that could compromise the integrity of the expansive assemblage process."
Portions of the determination — including Halligan's comments — are redacted, but Fitzpatrick said some were made successful effect to questions from expansive jurors and are "directly related to communications involving Comey."
Fitzpatrick said 1 connection Halligan made to the expansive assemblage "suggests" that Comey does not person a law close to not attest astatine trial. The 2nd remark from Halligan suggested that the expansive assemblage "did not person to trust connected lone the grounds earlier them" and that determination was "more grounds — possibly amended evidence" that the Justice Department had that would beryllium utilized astatine trial, the justice said.
The worldly astatine contented was seized by the FBI successful 2019 and 2020 successful effect to court-authorized hunt warrants for accounts and devices belonging to Daniel Richman, a instrumentality prof astatine Columbia University who is simply a person of Comey. Richman worked arsenic a peculiar authorities worker astatine the FBI during Comey's tenure arsenic director, and was his backstage lawyer arsenic of May 2017, erstwhile Mr. Trump fired Comey during his archetypal term.
Fitzpatrick said the materials seized from Richman were the "cornerstone" of Halligan's presumption to the expansive assemblage that voted to indict Comey, adjacent though they had been retrieved 5 years earlier arsenic portion of the abstracted probe that has since been closed.
The authorities besides appears to person entree to accusation it seized from Richman that was extracurricular the scope of the hunt warrants, the justice said, adjacent though agents had been instructed to seal immoderate accusation that did not autumn wrong the contours of the warrants.
"The authorities appears to person conflated its work to support privileged accusation – an work it approached casually astatine champion successful this lawsuit – with its work to prehend lone those materials authorized by the Court," helium wrote. "This cavalier cognition towards a basal tenet of the Fourth Amendment and aggregate tribunal orders near the authorities unchecked to rummage done each of the accusation seized from Mr. Richman, and apparently, successful the government's eyes, to bash truthful again anytime they chose."
While the probe involving Richman was closed successful September 2021 and nary charges were filed, the bureau "chose to rummage through" the seized worldly again this summer, erstwhile the FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia began a transgression probe into Comey, the justice said.
Fitzpatrick wrote that contempt the probe into Comey starting this year, "inexplicably, the authorities elected not to question a caller warrant for the 2025 search," of Richman's devices, "even though the 2025 probe was focused connected a antithetic person, was exploring a fundamentally antithetic ineligible theory, and was predicated connected an wholly antithetic acceptable of transgression offenses."
If the Justice Department had sought caller warrants, Fitzpatrick wrote it apt would person resulted successful "a hold the investigative squad could not spend fixed that the statute of limitations would expire successful a specified 18 days." Additionally, the justice said the parameters of a 2025 hunt would apt person been narrower successful scope than the archetypal warrants authorized for Richman's devices and accounts.
The unreserved to prosecute Comey implicit his grounds successful the look of the statute of limitations moving retired besides resulted successful the assignment of 1 of Mr. Trump's erstwhile aides and idiosyncratic attorneys, Halligan, to pb the national prosecutor's bureau successful the Eastern District of Virginia. Both Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who was besides indicted nether Halligan's supervision, are challenging her appointment arsenic unconstitutional.
James was indicted connected charges of slope fraud past period and pleaded not guilty.
Halligan appeared earlier the expansive assemblage connected Sept. 25, but Fitzpatrick said that aforesaid day, earlier her presentation, an unidentified FBI cause alerted the pb lawsuit cause and a lawyer with the FBI's Office of General Counsel that grounds obtained during the probe into Comey whitethorn person been taxable to attorney-client privilege oregon represent attorney-client confidential information.
But alternatively of removing himself from the investigative squad until immoderate imaginable issues were resolved, the justice said the pb lawsuit cause appeared earlier the expansive assemblage "undeterred" and testified successful enactment of bringing charges against Comey.
"The government's determination to let an cause who was exposed to perchance privileged accusation to attest earlier a expansive assemblage is highly irregular and a extremist departure from past DOJ practice," Fitzpatrick wrote.
Fitzpatrick's findings Monday are among galore ineligible threads that person imperiled the Comey prosecution.
Last week, a South Carolina national justice heard arguments from some Comey's and James' ineligible teams connected the legality of Halligan's assignment to pb the Eastern District of Virginia, with some requesting the justice disregard the indictments against them due to the fact that Halligan's assignment was unlawful. The justice overseeing that statement said she volition person a ruling by adjacent week.
Meanwhile, Comey's attorneys volition beryllium backmost successful tribunal Wednesday, wherever they volition reason that the indictment against Comey was "vindictive and selective" and should separately beryllium dismissed connected those grounds.
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