A federal judge on Wednesday warned the Justice Department it may be veering close to mishandling evidence in its legal case against former FBI Director James Comey.
“Right now, we are in a bit of a feeling of indict first, investigate later,” Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick of the Eastern District of Virginia stated in the listening to in Comey’s case, which lasted below an hour.
It was a unprecedented comment in a case that has already confronted each inner concern from different prosecutors in addition to public accusations of the politicization of the Justice Department.
Fitzpatrick centered the listening to round questions he had for the prosecutors about how that they had dealt with information collected below 4 search warrants in 2019 and 2020, which now may develop into a part of the case in opposition to Comey.
The judge pressed prosecutor Tyler Lemons for direct solutions on what evidence the Justice Department had in its possession, and whether or not anybody on the investigative aspect had checked out information that ought to be confidential as a result of they’re attorney-client communications.
The judge will finally decide whether or not the division correctly dealt with evidence that it collected years in the past in a leak investigation involving Comey and his buddy and lawyer, Daniel Richman. Comey has been charged with giving a false assertion to Congress associated to the leak investigation. He has pleaded not guilty.
Comey’s protection lawyer stated in courtroom on Wednesday their aspect believed the previous FBI director’s constitutional rights may have been violated however nonetheless don’t know sufficient in regards to the data federal investigators collected years in the past.
The protection had requested that the judge give them the flexibility to evaluate to any data that the federal government collected as a part of their leak probe to make sure that prosecutors can’t “rummage through” outdated warrants for something new that would incriminate Comey.
The Justice Department has till Thursday at 5 p.m. to present Comey’s staff with the entire particulars it recovered whereas looking Richman’s digital accounts in 2019 and 2020, in addition to all grand jury paperwork and transcripts.
“The government has had this for five and a half years … this is an unfair burden the government is placing on the defense, but I don’t see another path forward,” the judge stated, referring to the enormity of the information the protection may have to evaluate in a brief period of time.
Both Comey and US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Lindsey Halligan attended the hearing however neither spoke to the judge