The federal choose assigned to James Comey’s felony case gave the previous FBI Director his first win on Monday.
A grand jury within the Jap District of Virginia indicted former FBI Director James Comey final month. He was indicted on two counts – false statements and obstruction of a congressional continuing.
If convicted, James Comey is going through as much as 5 years in jail.
Comey’s case was assigned to US District Choose Michael Nachmanoff, a Biden appointee.
On Sunday night federal prosecutors signaled they could take away James Comey’s legal professional Patrick Fitzgerald as his lead counsel due to his involvement within the former FBI Director’s leaks of categorized data to the media by Daniel Richman.
Patrick Fitzgerald, a former US Legal professional for the North District of Illinois, was concerned in Comey’s unlawful leaks to the media again in 2017.
DOJ prosecutors advised the court docket that Comey used Patrick Fitzgerald to “improperly disclose categorized data.”
“Primarily based on publicly disclosed data, the defendant used present lead protection counsel to improperly disclose categorized data,” Jap District of Virginia prosecutors Tyler Lemons and Gabriel Diaz wrote in a court docket submitting on Sunday, in line with Politico. “This truth raises a query of battle and disqualification for present lead protection counsel.”
“The prosecutors requested the choose to rapidly approve a proposal for a “filter crew” of legal professionals to sift by proof in Comey’s felony case that would make clear Fitzgerald’s position within the eight-year-old disclosures — with out breaching Comey’s attorney-client privilege,” Politico reported.
Patrick Fitzgerald fired again at DOJ prosecutors and accused them of searching for to “defame” him by allegations he disclosed categorized materials to the media.
Later Monday Choose Michael Nachmanoff gave Comey a win and denied authorities prosecutors’ request to hurry up the ‘filter crew.’
“ORDERED that the federal government’s Movement for Expedited Ruling is DENIED;” the choose mentioned.
“And it’s additional ORDERED that Defendant shall reply to the federal government’s Movement for Implementation of Filter Protocol (ECF 38) on or earlier than October 27, 2025,” the choose added.
JUST IN: Incremental win for Comey as choose rejects prosecutors’ bid to hurry up filter crew protocol in Comey case, suggests prosecution might’ve moved sooner to organize/pace case. Doc: https://t.co/w6qvtkA6hT Earlier: https://t.co/qJ8rmnuQ82
— Josh Gerstein (@joshgerstein) October 20, 2025