James Comey asked a federal judge to shut down the Justice Department’s latest case against him. On Friday, the judge declined to do it — at least for now.
U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden held off on a ruling while prosecutors continue to seek a grand jury indictment over an alleged 2016 leak of national defense information. The Justice Department also told the court it has found evidence of additional acts after the date at the center of its original filing, though it did not disclose the details.
That leaves the former FBI director facing a live investigation and a fight over whether prosecutors beat the legal deadline. It does not mean a grand jury has indicted him in this case.
Journalist Roger Parloff, who covered the hearing, reported that McFadden took Comey’s dismissal request under advisement and left the government free to pursue an indictment. The judge also warned against a surprise arrest while the matter is pending:
The dispute is unusually technical, but the stakes are straightforward. Prosecutors filed a criminal information on October 5, exactly ten years after the alleged disclosure.
That document came from prosecutors; it was not approved by a grand jury. Comey has not waived his right to an indictment.
CBS News reported that Comey’s lawyer argued an information could not preserve the case under the statute’s ten-year deadline. Justice Department attorney Dustin Farahnak countered that it did pause the clock.
Farahnak said prosecutors had uncovered evidence of additional alleged acts after October 5, 2016, but declined to spell them out because of grand jury secrecy.
CBS also reported that Comey did not attend Friday’s hearing. His defense says two U.S. attorneys’ offices previously investigated the same alleged disclosure and brought no charges.
The underlying charge is serious. The government alleges Comey, while serving as FBI director, directed another person to give national defense information to a reporter for a 2016 story about federal email surveillance.
The allegation has not been proven, and Comey denies wrongdoing.
When the charging document became public earlier this week, this post laid out the accusation and identified the judge assigned to the case:
The court filing lays out two counts: alleged transmission of national defense information to someone unauthorized to receive it, and conspiracy to transmit that information. It places the alleged conduct on or about October 5, 2016, when Comey was FBI director.
The document says he acted through others and directed an unnamed person to disclose information to a reporter. Prosecutors filed it themselves, without a grand jury indictment.
Friday’s hearing concerned whether that method preserved the government’s case before the deadline, rather than whether Comey committed the alleged offense.
The Associated Press reported that McFadden acknowledged an indictment is not guaranteed. A prosecutor said evidence is being presented to a grand jury now.
The judge said he would be frustrated by any pre-indictment dawn raid at Comey’s home; the prosecutor assured him that would not happen.
President Trump has made his opinion of Comey plain. Asked about him after the new case surfaced, the president called the former FBI chief a “dirty cop,” while also saying he did not know the particulars of this prosecution:
Comey says he is innocent. His attorneys argue that the government’s deadline has passed, and two earlier federal reviews of the alleged 2016 disclosure ended without charges.
For those who want the former FBI director held accountable, Friday’s hearing kept that possibility alive. The next decision belongs to a grand jury — and, on the deadline question, to McFadden.
Neither has delivered a final answer.
This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.
The post Judge Delays Decision As DOJ Cites New Evidence In James Comey Case appeared first on 100PercentFedUp.com.
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[H/T 100PercentFedUp]
