Judge scolds Justice Dept. over its 'missteps' in Comey case

The Justice Department engaged in a "disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps" in the process of securing an indictment against former FBI Director James Comey, a federal judge ruled Monday in directing prosecutors to provide defense lawyers with all grand jury materials from the case.

- BY ERIC TUCKER

Those problems, wrote Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick, include "fundamental misstatements of the law" by a prosecutor to the grand jury that indicted Comey in September, the use of potentially privileged communications during the investigation and unexplained irregularities in the transcript of the grand jury proceedings.

"The Court recognizes that the relief sought by the defense is rarely granted," Fitzpatrick wrote "However, the record points to a disturbing pattern of profound investigative mis steps, mis steps that led an FBI agent and a prosecutor to potentially undermine the integrity of the grand jury proceeding."

The 24-page opinion is the most blistering assessment yet by a judge of the Justice Department's actions leading up to the Comey indictment. It underscores how procedural mis steps and prosecutorial in experience have combined to imperil the prosecution pushed by President Trump for reasons separate and apart from the substance of the disputed allegations against Comey.

The Comey case and a separate prosecution of New York Atty, Gen. Letitia James have heightened concerns that the Justice Department is being weaponized in pursuit of Trump's political opponents. Both defendants have filed multiple motions to dismiss the cases against them before trial, arguing that the prosecutions are improperly vindictive and that the prosecutor who filed the charges, Lindsey Halligan, was illegally appointed.

A different judge is set to decide by Thanksgiving on the challenges by Comey and James to Halligan's appointment.