Justice Department tells judge it may bring more charges against James Comey

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The federal judge overseeing the new case against former FBI Director James Comey is now set to decide whether placeholder charges can survive as prosecutors attempt to get an indictment from a Washington, DC, grand jury.

During a hearing Friday, the Justice Department said it is working on obtaining a grand jury indictment and have gathered additional evidence in the case regarding alledged leaks to the media, even though two previous DOJ investigations had not resulted in charges.

The charges against Comey — for allegedly conspiring to share sensitive information with a media outlet in 2016 to correct reporting from another news outlet — were brought in early October through what is known as an information, meaning that no judge or grand jury approved of the charges and it cannot be used to bring the case forward.

But DOJ attorneys told the court they are considering trying to charge Comey with alleged crimes that occurred after October, 2016 — including through April 2017— which would extend the current statute-of-limitations issue the current charges face.

There is a 10-year deadline on bringing charges under the Espionage Act.

Prosecutors claimed Friday they received new information since the investigation of the same alleged crime by John Durham, the Connecticut US attorney who declined to bring charges in 2018. The attorneys, however, did not say whether the new information came after a second investigation of the alleged leak that was done later in the first Trump administration and also didn’t result in charges.

Attorneys for Comey told district Judge Trevor McFadden that the underlying law does not allow for a charge to be brought by information in order, as the Justice Department has stated as their purpose, to pause the statute of limitations deadline.

Throughout the hearing, McFadden repeatedly asked Comey’s lawyer why he should not wait and let the Justice Department see if it can secure an indictment against Comey through a grand jury.

“FBI agents have been placed outside of Mr. Comey’s home,” the former director’s attorney said, adding the impact the case has already had on Comey and how it is “hanging over” his head.

Attorneys for the Justice Department said that while the law cited to charge Comey does not include charging by “information” within the 10-year limit to bring a charge, the use of the term “indictment” should be understood more broadly as a charging act and not merely as a grand jury return of charges.

“There is at least one novel issue,” McFadden said of the case during the end of Friday’s hearing, adding that it was the Justice Department’s prerogative if they chose to pursue a grand jury indictment before he issued a ruling.

“I will be extremely frustrated if there’s some dawn raid” on Comey’s home, McFadden warned prosecutors, who then promised nothing like that would happen.

Grand juries in Washington, DC, have declined to charge cases repeatedly during the second Trump administration, including earlier this week when a grand jury declined to bring charges against former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson .

“Ham sandwiches are hard to indict these day,” the judge said.

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负责审理针对前联邦调查局局长詹姆斯·科米的新案件的联邦法官现在将决定，在检察官试图从华盛顿特区大陪审团获得起诉书期间，占位符指控是否可以继续有效。

在周五的听证会上，司法部表示，他们正在努力争取获得大陪审团的起诉，并已收集了有关向媒体泄露信息的更多证据，尽管司法部之前的两次调查均未导致任何指控。

科米被控于 2016 年与一家媒体串谋，向其泄露敏感信息，以纠正另一家新闻媒体的报道。这些指控是在 10 月初提出的，属于所谓的“起诉书”，这意味着没有法官或大陪审团批准这些指控，因此不能用于推进此案。

但司法部律师告诉法庭，他们正在考虑指控科米在 2016 年 10 月之后（包括 2017 年 4 月之前）犯下的罪行，这将延长目前指控面临的诉讼时效问题。

根据《间谍法》，提起诉讼的期限为10年。

检察官周五声称，自康涅狄格州联邦检察官约翰·达勒姆 (John Durham) 于 2018 年对同一涉嫌犯罪进行调查以来，他们获得了新的信息。达勒姆当时拒绝提起诉讼。然而，检察官并未说明这些新信息是否来自特朗普第一任期后期对这起涉嫌泄密事件进行的第二次调查，而那次调查也未导致任何指控。

科米的律师告诉地区法官特雷弗·麦克法登，相关法律不允许通过起诉书提出指控，以达到司法部所宣称的目的——暂停诉讼时效期限。

在整个听证会期间，麦克法登反复询问科米的律师，为什么他不应该等待，让司法部看看能否通过大陪审团对科米提起诉讼。

“联邦调查局特工已被部署在科米先生的住所外，”这位前局长的律师说道，并补充说，此案已经对科米产生了影响，并且一直“悬在他的头上”。

司法部律师表示，虽然指控科米的法律依据不包括在 10 年期限内以“信息”方式提起诉讼，但“起诉书”一词的使用应该更广泛地理解为一种指控行为，而不仅仅是大陪审团的指控结果。

麦克法登在周五听证会结束时谈到此案时说：“至少有一个新颖的问题”，并补充说，在他做出裁决之前，司法部有权选择是否提起大陪审团起诉。

“如果对科米的住所进行突袭，我会非常失望，”麦克法登警告检察官，而检察官随后承诺绝不会发生这样的事情。

在特朗普第二任期内，华盛顿特区的大陪审团多次拒绝提起诉讼，包括本周早些时候，一个大陪审团拒绝起诉前白宫助理卡西迪·哈钦森。

“如今很难对火腿三明治提起诉讼，”法官说道。