Borrow a phrase from fellow from MissouriReports of Comey's death have been greatly exaggerated. Former FBI Director James Comey was, of course, indicted in late September on two counts in connection with statements he made during congressional hearings in September 2020:
- False statements subject to the jurisdiction of the legislative branch of the United States Government. [18 U.S.C. § 1001(a)(2)]
- Obstruction of Congressional Proceedings [18 U.S.C. § 1505]
There was some uproar Wednesday afternoon following a hearing on Comey's defense team's motion to dismiss the charges against him on grounds of vindictiveness. Eastern District of Virginia Judge Michael Nachmanoff as reported criticized Department of Justice (DOJ) lawyers over alleged discrepancies between the form of indictment presented to the grand jury and the final version presented in the case.
The Justice Department acknowledged Wednesday that a grand jury Former FBI Director James Comey indicted The final version of the charges was never shown.
Prosecutors revealed the omission during questioning the judge hearing the case. Comey's lawyers argued that this omission was grounds for dismissal of the indictment. The judge did not immediately make a decision.
…
Speaking in Michael Nachmanov's courtroom in the Eastern District of Virginia on Wednesday, Justice Department lawyer Tyler Lemons acknowledged that Comey's indictment was never fully considered by a full grand jury. Instead, Halligan brought the amended version into the magistrate's courtroom for the grand jury foreman to sign.
This, in turn, generated some rather ominous headlines like:
And it comes on the heels of Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick's ruling Monday ordering the Justice Department to turn over grand jury materials to the defense – material that is not normally turned over to the defense.
Oh please: Comey has the nerve to ask a judge to throw out his case over a 'vindictive' charge
All this led to the conclusion that Comey's indictment was not long for this world. Yesterday I read the report and even started to write something about it, but I hesitated because the only information I needed to continue was the reports of what was said at the hearing, and the court documents available at that time did not shed much light on the situation.
As it turns out, I'm glad I abstained. Following the hearings, the Ministry of Justice presented its objections to Fitzpatrick's order regarding the release of grand jury materials, and then, earlier today, filed a lawsuit notification correction of the record, both of which help establish that the grand jury did return the correct bill on two counts, of which two are listed above.
The confusion arose because there were originally three charges, the first of which the grand jury disagreed on. Charges were brought on the second and third counts. So the indictment was amended to remove the (original) first count and include only the second and third counts (which became the first and second), and this was signed by the grand jury foreman in the presence of another grand juror. (The others had apparently already left.)
If you want an even more detailed explanation on this, I highly recommend checking out Techno Fog. Substack on it, although it requires a subscription. But in short, yes, there was some inaccuracy here, but this concerned the form, not the content. And no, it doesn't have to be fatal to the indictment.
Does this mean that Judge Nakhmanov will look at it this way? No. It also does not guarantee that the indictment will stand up to some of the other charges brought against it. But despite all these breathless claims that the grand jury never saw an indictment, and ZOMG! – People need to calm down. They did it. There was simply an additional bill that was subsequently removed because they did not agree on it. Nothing new or unusual has been added. Something no longer relevant has been removed.
Editor's note: Do you like RedState's conservative reporting that challenges the radical left and awakens the media? Please support our work so we can continue to bring you the truth.
Join RedState VIP and use promo code FIGHT and get 60% off your VIP membership!
