Federal judge concerned that justice department sought to ‘indict first and investigate later’ in case of ex-FBI director
A federal judge on Wednesday ordered prosecutors in the criminal case of the former FBI director James Comey to produce a trove of materials from the investigation, saying he was concerned that the justice department’s position had been to “indict first and investigate later”.
Magistrate judge William Fitzpatrick instructed prosecutors to produce by the end of the day on Thursday grand jury materials as well as other evidence that investigators seized during the investigation. The order followed arguments in which Comey’s attorneys said they were at a disadvantage because they had not been able to review materials that were gathered years ago.
Comey is charged with lying to Congress in 2020 in a case filed days after Donald Trump appeared to urge his attorney general to prosecute the former FBI director and other perceived political enemies. He has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers have argued that it is a vindictive prosecution brought at the direction of the Republican president and must be dismissed.
At issue at Wednesday’s hearing were communications seized by investigators who in 2019 and 2020 executed search warrants of devices belonging to Daniel Richman, a Columbia University law professor and close friend of Comey who had also served as a special government employee at the FBI.
Richman factors into the case because prosecutors say Comey had encouraged him to engage with reporters about matters related to the FBI and that Comey therefore lied to Congress when he denied having authorized anyone at the FBI to serve as an anonymous source. But Comey’s lawyers say he was explicitly responding to a question about whether he had authorized the former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe to serve as an anonymous source.
Comey’s lawyers told the judge they had not reviewed the materials taken from Richman and thus could not know what information was privileged.
“We’re going to fix that, and we’re going to fix that today,” the judge said.