Judge weighs Comey case dismissal

U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden has not yet ruled on a motion to dismiss the Justice Department’s newest criminal allegations against former FBI Director James Comey.

The hearing concluded Friday without a decision on whether the government improperly extended the statute of limitations by filing a criminal information instead of seeking a grand jury indictment.

This is the third attempt by federal prosecutors to charge Comey in the past 13 months, a pace that accelerated after President Donald Trump publicly urged the Justice Department to act now against perceived political foes.

The legal dispute centers on a specific charge that Comey directed FBI staff to leak classified information to a New York Times reporter in October 2016 to correct a previous Reuters story about Yahoo’s surveillance capabilities.

Prosecutors claim Comey illegally transferred classified material by addressing accuracy concerns in a Reuters article published on October 4, 2016.

During the two-hour session, Judge McFadden commented on the difficulty prosecutors are currently facing in securing grand jury approvals, noting that ham sandwiches are harder to indict these days.

The judge referenced a 1985 quote by New York Judge Sol Wachtler to illustrate how rare such rejections were in the past.

DOJ attorney Dustin Farahnak told the court that the government has uncovered new evidence dating back to April 2017, which could extend the charging window by six months if the judge accepts that timeline.

Comey’s attorneys raised concerns about a potential imminent arrest, citing recent unexplained instances of FBI agents parking outside his home.

Judge McFadden warned the government that he would be extremely frustrated if there was a dawn raid to arrest Comey, prompting Farahnak to assure him that would not happen.

The details of this legal battle were made public on Monday after Judge McFadden unsealed records at the request of Comey’s legal team.

The government’s ability to pursue a grand jury indictment is technically limited until next Thursday, which is the final day allowed under the Speedy Trial Act before the criminal information is dismissed, unless the new evidence is accepted.