Judge hints at Comey indictment dismissal

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A federal magistrate judge on Monday raised the possibility that the criminal indictment against former FBI director James Comey on charges of lying to Congress could be dismissed, as he ordered the Department of Justice to release all grand jury material related to Comey’s case to him by the end of the day.

Judge William Fitzpatrick said a prosecutor had potentially violated court orders and Comey’s Fourth Amendment rights, which “establish a reasonable basis to question whether the government’s conduct was willful or in reckless disregard of the law.”

“The facts set forth herein and the particularized findings of the Court establish that ‘ground[s] may exist to dismiss the indictment because of a matter that occurred before the grand jury,’” Fitzpatrick wrote in his ruling in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

The judge said that he recognized that ordering the DOJ to release to Comey all material related to the grand jury that indicted him, as well as an audio recording of the proceedings, is “an extraordinary remedy.”

“But given the factually based challenges the defense has raised to the government’s conduct and the prospect that government misconduct may have tainted the grand jury proceedings, disclosure of grand jury materials under these unique circumstances is necessary to fully protect the rights of the accused,” Fitzpatrick wrote.

Comey was indicted on Sept. 25 in federal court in Arlington, Virginia, on charges of making a false statement and obstruction, in connection with his testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee in September 2020. During that testimony, Comey had denied authorizing another person at the FBI to act as an anonymous source for news reports about an investigation of 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and her emails.

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