Justice Department Faces Heat Over Comey Case Mishaps

A federal judge recently called out the Justice Department for some serious blunders in the case against former FBI Director James Comey. The judge, William Fitzpatrick, said there was a troubling pattern of mistakes that could have messed up the whole case. He pointed out things like a prosecutor making big legal errors and using possibly private talks as evidence. Fitzpatrick even said these mistakes might have hurt Comey's defense. The judge's ruling is pretty harsh, saying the Justice Department messed up big time. This case and another one involving New York Attorney General Letitia James have people worried that the Justice Department might be playing favorites for political reasons. Both Comey and James are fighting back, saying the charges are unfair and the prosecutor in charge wasn't even properly appointed. Comey's lawyers wanted to see the grand jury records because they thought something fishy might have happened. The prosecutor in charge, Lindsey Halligan, had zero experience before this and was appointed just days before the indictment. Fitzpatrick said he was really worried about how the case was handled, especially since some legal rules seemed to be ignored. The Justice Department isn't happy with the ruling and wants to challenge it. They say the judge might have misunderstood some facts. But Fitzpatrick's concerns are pretty serious, like a prosecutor telling the grand jury they could assume there was more evidence than what was presented. He also noticed some weird stuff about how the indictment was handled, like a missing record of what happened after the grand jury started talking about the first indictment. Comey is charged with lying to Congress about media leaks, but his lawyers say he was just answering a confusing question. The case also involves some private messages between Comey and his friend Dan Richman, which might have been protected by attorney-client privilege. Fitzpatrick said it was really unusual for an FBI agent who saw these messages to testify in front of the grand jury.