The indictment of former FBI Director James Comey is deeply problematic. Profession prosecutors didn’t need to contact it with a 10-foot pole however Comey is a political enemy of the president of the US, so right here we’re. The barebones indictment is conclusory at greatest, alleging Comey lied to Congress in 2020, and is is so obscure that it may apply to 2 alternate theories of the case.
The whole prosecution, led by Trump flunky Lindsey Halligan, who I’d consult with as deeply unserious if she didn’t wield a lot undeserved energy, has been objectively embarrassing for the federal government. And it’s gotten worse.
Yesterday within the case there was a listening to in entrance of Justice of the Peace Choose William Fitzpatrick over probably privileged supplies collected in 4 totally different search warrants. And, he was *not* impressed. The protection raised considerations that the supplies collected 5+ years in the past have been stale. As reported by ABC Information:
Choose Fitzpatrick appeared to agree with these considerations throughout Wednesday’s listening to, as he repeatedly pressed Assistant U.S. Lawyer Tyler Lemons over what supplies the federal government had reviewed and why the disputes over privilege weren’t settled throughout the greater than 5 years that the federal government had these communications in its possession
Fitzpatrick, citing what he described as “uncommon” habits by the Justice Division and the rapidly approaching January trial date, ordered the federal government at hand over “all grand jury supplies” associated to its investigations of Comey by Thursday at 5 p.m. ET — an pressing deadline that mirrored Fitzpatrick’s concern over the federal government’s conduct.
Choose Fitzpatrick slammed the federal government’s actions, saying it felt like an “indict first, examine second” scenario.
Effectively, to be honest to the DOJ, the choose’s assertion isn’t fairly correct. You see the federal government *did* examine — multiple times! — and people prosecutors determined there wasn’t sufficient proof to indict however the president threw an inadvertently public hissy hit about *not* prosecuting his political enemies and the statute of limitations was about to expire, so we’re left with this blatant miscarriage of justice. However for simplicity’s sake, criticizing the prosecution as “indict first, examine second” will get the job accomplished.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Legislation, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the very best, so please join along with her. Be at liberty to e-mail her with any suggestions, questions, or feedback and comply with her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @[email protected].
