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DOJ’s Narrative Cracks Under the Judge’s Review
The controversy exploded after Fitzpatrick reviewed the grand jury’s internal records himself. Those records were connected to the September 25 indictment signed by prosecutor Lindsey Halligan — a relatively new appointee brought in under Attorney General Pam Bondi.
After examining the materials firsthand, Fitzpatrick said the timeline the government provided simply didn’t add up. Prosecutors claimed the grand jury rejected one of the original charges, and then — almost instantly — a revised indictment was drafted, signed, explained to the jury, and voted on.
But the judge said the official records show no documentation of that crucial first vote, nor any record of fresh deliberations on the new charges. He described the government’s timeline as physically impossible.
He wrote, “The short time span between the moment the prosecutor learned that the grand jury rejected one count in the original indictment and the time the prosecutor appeared in court to return the second indictment could not have been sufficient to draft the second indictment, sign the second indictment, present it to the grand jury, provide legal instructions to the grand jury, and give them an opportunity to deliberate and render a decision on the new indictment.”
In other words the DOJ’s explanation doesn’t come close to passing the smell test.
Judge Flags Serious Legal Blunders
The judge also highlighted another startling issue. Halligan, who had never run a prosecution before this case, reportedly made two major legal errors while answering jurors’ questions during the proceedings.
One misstep suggested Comey might be required to testify at trial to explain his innocence. Another implied the grand jury could assume the government had secret evidence it had simply chosen not to show them.
Both are unacceptable — and both could poison a jury.
Fitzpatrick’s reaction was blistering. “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,” he wrote.
Could the Charges Collapse?
This ruling massively increases the possibility that the entire case against Comey — which includes counts of obstruction of Congress and false statements — could collapse before ever reaching trial. If a judge finds that prosecutors corrupted the grand jury process, dismissal becomes a very real outcome.
For years Comey has been shielded from accountability by the same bureaucracy he once ran. Now the DOJ itself may end up being the reason the charges fall apart.
The Biden-era Justice Department was already under scrutiny for politically charged prosecutions. This new ruling adds one more explosive allegation: that government lawyers may have bent the rules to the breaking point — and possibly beyond — just to get a high-profile indictment.
If that’s true, the fallout could be massive.
