Federal judge warns Justice Department it may be veering close to mishandling evidence in Comey case

Source: CNN Politics

PUBLISHED Nov 5, 2025, 12:40 PM ET


A federal judge on Wednesday warned the Justice Department it may be veering close to mishandling evidence in its criminal case against former FBI Director James Comey.

“Right now, we are in a bit of a feeling of indict first, investigate later,” Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick of the Eastern District of Virginia said in the hearing in Comey’s case, which lasted under an hour.

It was an extraordinary remark in a case that has already faced both internal concern from other prosecutors as well as public accusations of the politicization of the Justice Department.

Fitzpatrick focused the hearing around questions he had for the prosecutors about how they had handled data collected under four search warrants in 2019 and 2020, which now could become part of the case against Comey.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/05/politics/james-comey-justice-department-evidence