Dem
47
GOP
53
Donald Trump's Department of Justice is nothing if not persistent in its campaign of retribution. A little more than
two weeks after the case was dismissed on a finding that Lindsey Halligan was unlawfully appointed as the U.S. Attorney
for the Eastern District of Virginia, "Attorney General" Pam Bondi tried again to get Trump nemesis Letitia James
indicted for mortgage fraud. With Halligan not an option—though she is
still listed
as the U.S. Attorney for Virginia's Eastern District, and so is apparently getting paid by U.S. taxpayers to sit on her
ass—Bondi had to go all the way to Missouri to find a compliant stooge prosecutor willing to present this
dog of a case a second time to a grand jury. Roger Keller flew in from the Show Me State, and showed his "evidence" to
the grand jury at 9 a.m. By noon, they'd
already rejected it
and left for lunch. Ouch. In fairness to him, the Fishin' Pig in Norfolk DOES have a special on Bang Bang Shrimp on
Thursdays, and they DO tend to run out, so...
The DoJ could still appeal Judge Cameron Currie's decision dismissing the cases against James and against James Comey, but they haven't yet. Meanwhile, Bondi is also facing new challenges in her efforts to re-indict Comey. Recall that Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick reviewed the grand jury material, ordered it turned over to Comey, and Halligan then demanded that Fitzpatrick give her reasons why. Well, reasons she got, among them that the FBI exceeded the scope of the original search warrants for Daniel Richman and seized privileged communications between Richman and his client, James Comey. Then, once the investigation was closed in 2021, instead of destroying the material as required, they kept it and "rummaged" through it this past summer to try to dig up dirt on Comey without securing a new search warrant. Oops. So, Fitzpatrick found that the DoJ likely violated both Richman's and Comey's Fourth Amendment rights as well as violating the attorney-client privilege.
Things have now gone from bad to worse for Bondi & Co. On Saturday, in response to a lawsuit filed by Richman, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly agreed and issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting the DoJ from using this evidence in any capacity until further notice. She wrote, in her ruling, that Richman is likely to prevail on the merits once the case actually goes to trial (if it ever does), so that TRO is likely to become permanent if the DoJ keeps pressing the matter.
And this is on top of the statute of limitations problem the DoJ has with Comey, as 5 years have now passed since the September 30, 2020, testimony that is the basis of this action. And let's not forget that, on top of all these other problems, these are prosecutions in search of a crime. The accusation against Comey is solely based on a statement he made to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in response to a vague and strangely worded question about who may or may not have spoken to the press: "I can only speak to my testimony. I stand by the testimony you summarized." That's what Bondi and her minions are trying to turn into a crime. They are not having much luck, and what little luck they have had may well have run out. (L)