“Profound missteps”: Federal judge blasts DOJ’s “disturbing” handling of Comey case

A federal magistrate judge torched a Trump-picked prosecutor over her handling of the criminal case against former FBI Director James Comey, alleging multiple instances of “misconduct” that could see the case dismissed.

Judge William Fitzpatrick ordered interim US Attorney for Eastern Virginia Lindsey Halligan to turn over grand jury materials to Comey, noting that the evidentiary relief sought by his lawyers was “rarely granted.”

“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,” Fitzpatrick wrote on Monday.

“The prosecutor made statements to the grand jurors that could reasonably form the basis for the defense to challenge whether the grand jury proceedings were infected with constitutional error,” Fitzpatrick wrote.

He said Halligan made several “fundamental and highly prejudicial” misrepresentations to the grand jury that indicted Comey.

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In a hearing earlier this month, Fitzpatrick said the prosecution was taking an “indict first, investigate later” approach to Comey’s case, positing that “grounds exist” that “may justify the dismissal of one or more counts of the indictment.”