In a back-and-forth in Judge Michael Nachmanoff’s courtroom in the Eastern District of Virginia on Wednesday, DOJ attorney Tyler Lemons admitted that the indictment handed up on Comey was never fully reviewed by the full grand jury. Instead, Halligan brought an altered version to the magistrate’s courtroom for the grand jury’s foreperson to sign.
Trump’s DOJ Admits Comey Grand Jury Never Saw Final Indictment
Comey case hanging by a thread as judge squeezes DOJ over Halligan’s handling
And that development came right on the heels of a Monday ruling by Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick, who ordered the DOJ to hand over grand jury materials to Comey’s defense team — something that almost never happens under normal circumstances.
All of this understandably led to speculation that the Comey indictment was on life support. I saw the same reports floating around yesterday and even started drafting a piece myself — but I held back, because everything we had came from secondhand accounts of what was said in the courtroom. The available filings didn’t yet paint a clear picture.
And it’s a good thing I waited. After the hearing, the DOJ filed its objections to Judge Fitzpatrick’s order requiring disclosure of grand jury materials, and then — earlier today — submitted a notice correcting the record. Taken together, those filings make it clear the grand jury did, in fact, return a true bill on two counts, exactly the ones spelled out in the indictment. Continue reading…
