(Crankers) Just when you think you’re gonna find out a swamp creature might end up in jail, you get the complete opposite news on your timeline and now you’re mad.
That’s me right now. I thought this slimeball was going down, but seems like some technicalities might get him off the hook.
A federal judge just delivered a major blow to the Justice Department’s indictment of former FBI Director James Comey, saying prosecutors made what he called “profound investigative missteps” while presenting the case to the grand jury.
On November 17, Judge William Fitzpatrick, a U.S. magistrate judge in the Eastern District of Virginia, ruled that the DOJ mishandled key parts of the indictment process. According to court documents, the prosecutor leading the case, Lindsey Halligan, made incorrect statements about the law to the grand jury, introduced possibly privileged material, and left unexplained gaps in the official transcript.
Those issues are serious enough that the judge took a highly unusual step: he ordered the DOJ to hand over all grand-jury materials to Comey’s defense team. That includes transcripts, audio recordings, and other sealed records that almost never see the light of day. Fitzpatrick said the errors “potentially undermine the integrity” of the entire proceeding.
The indictment at the center of all this accuses Comey of lying to Congress in 2020 about FBI leak issues tied to his time as director. Comey has pleaded not guilty and maintains the case is politically motivated.
What really raised eyebrows in the courtroom is the judge’s criticism of how the DOJ handled the whole thing. Halligan, newly appointed and with no prior experience as a federal prosecutor, was singled out for major mistakes during the grand-jury process. The judge also noted potential mishandling of sensitive information and basic failures in how the transcripts were kept.
Comey’s lawyers now have access to material that defendants almost never get, and they’re expected to review everything for possible motions to dismiss the charges. Whether the case survives this level of scrutiny is now a very real question.
The DOJ hasn’t said much publicly, but the ruling puts pressure on the department to explain how the indictment was put together, and whether the mistakes were just sloppiness or something more serious.
For now, the Comey case isn’t collapsing, but it’s definitely on shaky ground after the judge’s ruling.
What a total mess. How did they screw this up?