The Justice Department engaged in a “disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps” in the process of securing an indictment against former FBI Director James Comey, a federal judge ruled Monday in directing prosecutors to provide defense lawyers with all grand jury materials from the case.
Those problems, wrote Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick, include “fundamental misstatements of the law” by a prosecutor to the grand jury that indicted Comey in September, the use of potentially privileged communications during the investigation and unexplained iThe 24-page opinion is the most blistering assessment yet by a judge of the Justice Department’s actions leading up to the Comey indictment. It underscores how procedural missteps and prosecutorial inexperience have combined to imperil the prosecution pushed by President Donald Trump for reasons separate and apart from the substance of the disputed allegations against Comey.rregularities in the transcript of the grand jury proceedings.
“The Court recognizes that the relief sought by the defense is rarely granted,” Fitzpatrick wrote “However, the record points to a disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps, missteps that led an FBI agent and a prosecutor to potentially undermine the integrity of the grand jury proceeding.”
The 24-page opinion is the most blistering assessment yet by a judge of the Justice Department’s actions leading up to the Comey indictment. It underscores how procedural missteps and prosecutorial inexperience have combined to imperil the prosecution pushed by President Donald Trump for reasons separate and apart from the substance of the disputed allegations against Comey.
David Richardson, who headed up the Federal Emergency Management Agency as acting chief for almost seven months, resigned on Monday, Nov. 17.
On Thursday morning, a chartered plane carrying 153 Palestinians from war-torn Gaza – many without the required travel documents – landed at an airport near Johannesburg, leaving South African officials “blindsided”.
OHCHR condemned this week’s attacks as abhorrent and said they reflected a wider pattern of increased violence against Palestinians.
There are now three remaining deceased hostages in Gaza, following Thursday's return of the body of Meni Goddard. Israeli authorities have been releasing the bodies of Palestinians in exchange for the return of hostage remains.
Ukraine and Greece signed an agreement in Athens on Sunday for the provision of US-supplied liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Kyiv throughout the winter months.
Concerns over a small brush fire that reignited days later into the mammoth Palisades fire – the most destructive in Los Angeles history – have grown in recent weeks amid reports that firefighters were ordered to leave the original site of the smaller blaze despite their concerns the ground was still smoldering.
A group of 17 transgender US air force members has sued the Trump administration for denying them early retirement pensions and benefits.
During a weekend in which he has raged at critics, Donald Trump lashed out at Seth Meyers, as he has done before, while calling on the NBC late-night host to be fired.
