A judge on Wednesday ordered federal prosecutors to produce records in their probe of former FBI Director James Comey to his defense lawyers.
Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick instructed prosecutors to produce by the end of the day on Thursday grand jury materials and other evidence that was seized during the investigation into Comey, The Associated Press reported. The order came after Comeyâs attorneys said they were at a disadvantage because they had been unable to review information that was collected years ago as part of an investigation into FBI media leaks.
âThe procedural posture of this case is highly unusual,” Fitzpatrick told the lawyers Wednesday. He also said the Justice Department appears to be operating under an âindict firstâ and investigate later policy.
Comey, who attended the hearing, is charged with lying to Congress in 2020. He has pleaded not guilty.
Fitzpatrick granted the request of Comeyâs defense lawyers to get a transcript of grand jury proceedings, as they cited irregularities in the process and potential legal and factual errors that could result in the dismissal of the case.
The judge also ordered prosecutors to produce evidence to defense lawyers that was seized through search warrants in 2019 and 2020 from Daniel Richman, a Columbia University law professor and close friend of Comey.
Prosecutors argue that Comey had encouraged Richman to engage with reporters about FBI matters and that Comey thus lied to the Senate Judiciary Committee five years ago when he denied having authorized media leaks. Comeyâs lawyers claim he was responding to a question about whether he had authorized former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe to serve as an anonymous source.
Comey’s attorneys told Fitzpatrick that they had not reviewed the materials taken from Richman, who had earlier been a lawyer for Comey, and could not know what information was privileged and may have been improperly used as evidence.
âWeâre going to fix that, and weâre going to fix that today,â Fitzpatrick said.
