A federal judge on Monday evening gave US Attorney Lindsey Halligan a temporary win after the DOJ appealed a magistrate judge’s order to hand over grand jury materials in Comey’s criminal case.
Comey was previously indicted on two counts – false statements and obstruction of a congressional proceeding.
James Comey’s false statements charge is related to his September 2020 Senate testimony on whether he authorized leaks to the media.
Earlier Monday, a magistrate judge ordered the Justice Department to turn over grand jury materials to Comey, claims “government conduct” may have tainted the case.
Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick scolded prosecutors and said US Attorney Lindsey Halligan made two misstatements to the grand jury that may put the case in jeopardy.
Fitzpatrick also said the DOJ may not have fully disclosed all of the requested grand jury materials since jurors rejected the first indictment with three counts.
The transcripts provided only reflected the second indictment with two counts against Comey.
The Justice Department promptly appealed the magistrate judge’s order.
Later Monday, Judge Michael Nachmanoff, the Biden-appointed district court judge assigned to the case temporarily halted the magistrate judge’s order.
The judge ordered the government to file any objections to Judge Fitzpatrick’s order by 5 pm Wednesday. The defense was ordered to respond by Friday at 5 pm.
In the meantime, Judge Nachmanoff stayed the magistrate judge’s order.
UPDATE: Judge Nachmanoff has briefly halted the order requiring DOJ to turn over the grand jury materials to Comey. Instead, he sets a rapid schedule to consider DOJ's appeal of the decision that should resolve it by next week. https://t.co/6sZNv8EEoN pic.twitter.com/fmUDwsIjpG
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) November 17, 2025
Earlier this month the magistrate judge ripped DOJ prosecutors and accused them of a slap dash indictment against James Comey.
Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick scolded prosecutors for their handling of the case and said they quickly moved to “indict first, investigate second.”
In addition to grand jury materials, Fitzpatrick also ordered the DOJ to turn over recordings.
