THE DAILY BS: HOW MUCH CAN YOU HANDLE?
SPARE ME THE BS (I’ve got things to do).
- Prosecutors filed a criminal information alleging former FBI Director James Comey improperly disclosed sensitive national defense information in 2016.
- The latest filing does not include a grand-jury indictment, raising procedural and limitations questions.
- The same day, a federal judge ruled that Comey’s daughter Maurene had been unlawfully fired by the Justice Department.
LAY IT ON ME (I’ve got time).
James Comey has another appointment with the federal justice system. And this time, the Justice Department has produced something unusual: a criminal charging document without a grand-jury indictment.
For a former FBI director who spent years explaining proper legal procedure to the rest of America, the procedural details are becoming quite a story of their own.
Federal prosecutors filed a two-count criminal information accusing Comey of transmitting national defense information to an unauthorized recipient. It concerns alleged disclosures in October 2016 while Comey was running the FBI.
According to prosecutors, Comey directed staff members to communicate sensitive information concerning American email surveillance to a New York Times reporter. Comey denies the allegations.
Here’s where the prosecution takes an especially interesting turn: prosecutors did not secure an indictment. Instead, they filed a criminal information, ordinarily used in felony cases when a defendant waives indictment.
Comey has shown no inclination to cooperate with the government’s allegations. A Justice Department spokesperson told CBS News the filing was intended to preserve the case before the statute of limitations expired.
That’s a notable explanation: prosecutors are pursuing allegations dating back a decade while navigating a legal deadline. Comey’s lawyers dispute the case, including its procedural footing.
The filing was originally sealed and became public Monday at Comey’s request. He responded: “It would almost be funny if it weren’t such an appalling abuse of the Department of Justice.” He also insisted, “Nothing’s changed with me. I’m still innocent.”
Meanwhile, his daughter Maurene Comey won a separate ruling that her dismissal as a Manhattan federal prosecutor was unlawful.
So in one federal courtroom James Comey was confronting new allegations from the Trump DOJ, and in another his daughter was winning a legal dispute against that department. Try selling that plot to a television producer; he’ll tell you the script is getting complicated.
The two legal disputes are separate. The new criminal information does not resolve whether the case can proceed or whether Comey committed any offense.
But the legal fight between Trump-era prosecutors and the former FBI director remains far from finished, with procedure now nearly as important as the underlying allegations.
