A federal choose on Saturday temporarily locked down the Justice Department’s entry to some evidence used in its felony case in opposition to former FBI Director James Comey, simply because the Trump administration prepares to hunt a brand new indictment after the dismissal of previous charges early final week.
The choose’s order units up a fast-moving emergency courtroom continuing over this week that would exclude key items of evidence from any future continuing in opposition to Comey, probably limiting what prosecutors could current to a grand jury after his earlier case was dismissed for various causes.
The growth follows a courtroom problem from Comey’s pal and former lawyer Dan Richman, who went to court after studying federal investigators could have used unauthorized entry to his digital communications to prosecute Comey.
Richman requested for his information to be returned and to dam the Justice Department from accessing it with out correct warrants. The choose temporarily agreed.
“The Court concludes that Petitioner Richman is likely to succeed on the merits of his claim that the Government has violated his Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches and seizures by retaining a complete copy of all files on his personal computer (an ‘image’ of the computer) and searching that image without a warrant,” DC District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly wrote in a four-page ruling.
The courtroom orders the DOJ to “identify, segregate, and secure” a picture of Richman’s private pc made in 2017 in addition to his Columbia University electronic mail and iCloud accounts, any copy of these recordsdata, and “any material obtained, extracted, or derived” from the recordsdata presently in the federal government’s possession.
The choose ordered the Justice Department to certify by Monday that it’s complying with the courtroom. Further developments in the disputed evidence are anticipated this week.
The evidence the Justice Department collected from Richman’s on-line accounts, iPhone, iPad and a tough drive was turning into a severe challenge in the just lately dismissed felony case in opposition to Comey in Northern Virginia.
Richman, a Columbia University legislation professor, referred to as the Justice Department’s entry to his recordsdata a “callous disregard” of his Fourth Amendment rights.
Saturday’s short-term courtroom restriction additionally creates the likelihood for a choose to dig into the allegations of prosecutorial missteps, which weren’t absolutely uncovered or litigated in the Comey case earlier than it was dismissed final Monday, or shut off evidence prosecutors could need to use as they attempt to refashion fees in opposition to Comey associated to his 2020 congressional testimony.
Comey had pleaded not responsible earlier than the costs had been dismissed. The indictment alleged he had misled Congress in 2020 on his interactions with Richman. The Alexandria, Virginia, grand jury heard evidence from the Richman recordsdata, in response to courtroom information.
Virgina federal Justice of the Peace choose William Fitzpatrick mentioned the unique search warrants in the nationwide protection leak investigation often called Arctic Haze didn’t authorize federal investigators to grab evidence associated to Comey’s alleged crimes of mendacity to Congress in his 2020 testimony, the costs for which he was in the end indicted.
The evidence from Richman was additionally dormant for years, and the Justice Department hadn’t obtained new warrants to entry it once more for investigating Comey this 12 months, Fitzpatrick additionally famous. Comey’s group mentioned that they had never had access to the evidence earlier than he was charged.
The Arctic Haze investigation by no means resulted in a felony case, and Richman has by no means been charged.
The Comey felony case ended abruptly final week with a separate choose’s ruling that Trump-backed lawyer Lindsey Halligan, who had been appearing because the US Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia and solely offered the case to the grand jury in late September, didn’t have prosecutor powers at the moment.
The Justice Department has mentioned it deliberate to enchantment the choice voiding Halligan’s work, although that enchantment hasn’t been filed but.