Trump-Appointed Judge Mulls Whether DOJ Violated Statute Amid Comey Prosecution

John Minchillo/AP Photo

A Trump-appointed federal judge mulled Friday whether the Justice Department’s latest attempt to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey ran afoul of a 10-year legal deadline.

U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden heard arguments over whether prosecutors improperly circumvented the statute of limitations by filing a criminal information against Comey without first securing a grand jury indictment, according to The Washington Post.

The Department of Justice charged Comey with two offenses on Oct. 5 — unlawfully transmitting national defense information in violation of the Espionage Act and conspiracy to commit the same offense — alleging that he directed the disclosure of national defense information to The New York Times in 2016. The charges stem from a report about Yahoo’s cooperation with U.S. government email surveillance.

Prosecutors filed a criminal information — a charging document that does not require grand jury approval — on the day the 10-year statute of limitations was set to expire.

Comey’s attorneys argue that the filing was insufficient to stop the clock, while prosecutors maintain that the law permits their approach.

“The government is wrong, and the statute of limitations has run,” Comey’s attorney Ephraim McDowell said Friday.

According to The Associated Press, prosecutors confirmed Friday that they are now presenting evidence to a grand jury.

McFadden ultimately postponed his ruling while that process plays out, warning prosecutors, though, that he would be “extremely frustrated if there was some sort of dawn raid” at Comey’s home while his decision remained pending.

The case marks the Trump administration’s third attempt to prosecute Comey in just over a year.

Comey has denied wrongdoing, calling the latest charges an “appalling abuse of the Department of Justice.”

Former federal prosecutor Jeffrey Toobin blasted the latest case as a “fiasco” and a “disgrace” on CNN earlier this week, and former judge Andrew Napolitano argued on Newsmax that the charges came “too little and too late.”

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