Judge weighs former FBI Director James Comey’s effort to dismiss his new criminal charges

A federal judge in Washington, D.C. is deciding whether to throw out the newest criminal case against former FBI Director James Comey, the third the Trump administration has pursued against him in about a year. U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden heard roughly 90 minutes of argument on Friday and gave no timeline for a ruling, according to MS NOW.

Prosecutors accuse Comey of unlawfully transmitting national defense information and conspiring to do so, alleging he arranged for a disclosure to a reporter on Oct. 5, 2016. They filed by criminal information rather than a grand jury indictment, on the final day the ten-year limit allowed. Comey's lawyer, Ephraim McDowell, argued that the deadline for a proper indictment has passed. The Justice Department, represented by Dustin Farahnak, called that reading incomplete and the motion premature. It also said it intends to seek an indictment once the dismissal question is settled. McFadden noted that grand juries in the District have recently become harder to persuade.

Comey's earlier cases were a Virginia false-statements prosecution, dismissed because the prosecutor was unlawfully appointed, and a North Carolina case over a seashell photo, where no plea is expected until at least January.

Summarized by PolitiKool from MS NOW’s reporting. Read the full story at MS NOW →