Judge Berates Justice Dept. in Its Prosecution of Comey

A federal judge in the Trump administration’s prosecution of James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, on Wednesday blasted President Trump’s handpicked prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan, for taking an “indict first, investigate second” approach to the case.

The magistrate judge, William Fitzpatrick, repeatedly expressed his frustration — and at times his barely restrained annoyance — with Ms. Halligan during an otherwise procedural hearing in which he ordered the Justice Department to produce records from its investigation...

The flashpoint was the Justice Department’s failure to turn over communications it had seized from a confidant of Mr. Comey’s, Daniel C. Richman, a law professor at Columbia University, as part of an internal investigation of leaks in the Russia case during the first Trump administration.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/us/politics/judge-trump-prosecutor-comey.html

 

Got some very sticky fingers in the Trump DOJ.

Got a transcript of what the Judge said?

 

No, you dont.

 

Typically, Your title is misleading. A magistrate is not an Article III Federal Judge.

 

So it should read NY Times Says Magistrate Berates DOJ....

7 minutes ago, Yagoda said:

Got a transcript of what the Judge said?

 

No, you dont.

 

Typically, Your title is misleading. A magistrate is not an Article III Federal Judge.

 

So it should read NY Times Says Magistrate Berates DOJ....

Sure. The NY Times is lying about what was said. And we know this because Fox News and others jumped all over this article...oh wait a minute. This part of your comment is deranged.

 

As for your silly nitpicking comment about the headline...space limitations apply  Where did I call him an article 3 Federal Judge? Where did the Times call him an article 3  Federal judge? The Times specifically identified him in the body of the article as a magistrate judge. Maybe you should try to read past the headlines once in a while. The fact is that he is a judge.

 

 

16 minutes ago, Yagoda said:

Got a transcript of what the Judge said?

 

No, you dont.

 

Typically, Your title is misleading. A magistrate is not an Article III Federal Judge.

 

So it should read NY Times Says Magistrate Berates DOJ....

Here's an article from those socialists at Fox News

Judge in Comey case scolds prosecutors as he orders them to produce records from probe

— A federal judge on Wednesday ordered prosecutors in the criminal case of former FBI Director James Comey to produce to defense lawyers a trove of materials from the investigation, saying he was concerned the Justice Department’s position had been to “indict first” and investigate second.

U.S. Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick instructed prosecutors to produce by the end of the day on Thursday grand jury materials and other evidence that investigators seized during the investigation. The order followed arguments in which Comey’s attorneys said they were at a disadvantage because they had not been able to yet review information that was collected years ago as part of an investigation into FBI media leaks.

https://fox40.com/news/political-connection/ap-politics/ap-judge-in-comey-case-scolds-prosecutors-as-he-orders-them-to-produce-records-from-probe/amp/

 

Is Fox News also lying about what was said? Are they trying to mislead by not using the word magistrate in their headline?

31 minutes ago, Alan Zweibel said:

Judge Berates Justice Dept. in Its Prosecution of Comey

A federal judge in the Trump administration’s prosecution of James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, on Wednesday blasted President Trump’s handpicked prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan, for taking an “indict first, investigate second” approach to the case.

The magistrate judge, William Fitzpatrick, repeatedly expressed his frustration — and at times his barely restrained annoyance — with Ms. Halligan during an otherwise procedural hearing in which he ordered the Justice Department to produce records from its investigation...

The flashpoint was the Justice Department’s failure to turn over communications it had seized from a confidant of Mr. Comey’s, Daniel C. Richman, a law professor at Columbia University, as part of an internal investigation of leaks in the Russia case during the first Trump administration.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/us/politics/judge-trump-prosecutor-comey.html

 

Got some very sticky fingers in the Trump DOJ.

Judges are weird.

9 minutes ago, Alan Zweibel said:

The NY Times is lying about what was said.

NY Times? Notorious liars. Covered up the deaths of millions. Promoted the Russia hoax. Covered for Joe Biden.

 

You havent seen the transcript, you rely on others to tell you what you want to hear and interpret it for you. 

7 minutes ago, Alan Zweibel said:

Is Fox News also lying about what was said? Are they trying to mislead by not using the word magistrate in their headline?

I dont write their headlines.

 

I bet you have never seen a judge "scold" anyone.

This story is copied verbatim from NY Post:

 

James Comey notches win in criminal case — as judge tears into prosecutors

Published Nov. 5, 2025, 12:55 p.m. ET

 

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A federal judge in the criminal case against James Comey scolded prosecutors in a tense court hearing Wednesday — and demanded that they hand over evidence “immediately” to attorneys for the ex-FBI director, who is charged with lying to Congress about leaking investigative information to media.

 

US Magistrate Judge William E. Fitzpatrick heard arguments inside the northern Virginia courtroom for roughly an hour, pressing prosecutors on the scope of the evidence already obtained, and whether any of it may have infringed on Comey’s attorney-client

privilege.

 

At issue were three search warrants executed by the FBI in 2019 and 2020 as part of the bureau’s Arctic Haze probe into how classified information from the bureau was leaked to news outlets.

 

“Right now, we’re in a bit of a feeling of indict first, investigate second,” the magistrate — who was appointed to the bench in 2022 under President Joe Biden — groused.

 

https://nypost.com/2025/11/05/us-news/james-comey-notches-win-in-criminal-case-as-judge-tears-into-prosecutors/

59 minutes ago, Alan Zweibel said:

Judge Berates Justice Dept. in Its Prosecution of Comey

A federal judge in the Trump administration’s prosecution of James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, on Wednesday blasted President Trump’s handpicked prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan, for taking an “indict first, investigate second” approach to the case.

The magistrate judge, William Fitzpatrick, repeatedly expressed his frustration — and at times his barely restrained annoyance — with Ms. Halligan during an otherwise procedural hearing in which he ordered the Justice Department to produce records from its investigation...

The flashpoint was the Justice Department’s failure to turn over communications it had seized from a confidant of Mr. Comey’s, Daniel C. Richman, a law professor at Columbia University, as part of an internal investigation of leaks in the Russia case during the first Trump administration.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/us/politics/judge-trump-prosecutor-comey.html

 

Got some very sticky fingers in the Trump DOJ.

 

If the US justice system wants to maintain their credibility they need to disbar these lawyers, but I doubt that will ever happen.  Just like they should have had that Florida judge removed for sabotaging the Trump classified documents case.  Aileen Cannon.

28 minutes ago, Yagoda said:

NY Times? Notorious liars. Covered up the deaths of millions. Promoted the Russia hoax. Covered for Joe Biden.

 

You havent seen the transcript, you rely on others to tell you what you want to hear and interpret it for you. 

I dont write their headlines.

 

I bet you have never seen a judge "scold" anyone.

And I suppose Fox News is a notorious liar too?

Two different judgesberat them for the same egregious failure?

1 hour ago, Alan Zweibel said:

And I suppose Fox News is a notorious liar too?

Well according to your lot it is.

 

How many Federal Courtrooms you ever been in? You understand how the system works inside those closed doors?

 

Have you read the transcript?

2 hours ago, shdmn said:

 

If the US justice system wants to maintain their credibility they need to disbar these lawyers, but I doubt that will ever happen.  Just like they should have had that Florida judge removed for sabotaging the Trump classified documents case.  Aileen Cannon.

What lawyers? The Feds who covered up the Scarpa/Bulger murders? The ones who conveniently lost paperwork until Reles flew out the window? The ones that manufactured evidence against MLK? How about the CIA and Castro? CIA and watergate? Bobby Kennedy ordering the kidnapping of Carlos Marcello?

 

Bet you think the Russia hoax was real.

 

The FBI and the CIA hierarchy  have no credibility. Comey is a manipulative lying authoritarian scum in the tradition of J. Edgar Hoover.

1 hour ago, Yagoda said:

Well according to your lot it is.

 

How many Federal Courtrooms you ever been in? You understand how the system works inside those closed doors?

 

Have you read the transcript?

Find me any news source that disagrees with how fox news and the nytimes characterize the script. Or maybe you should just report to the mods that I am using unreliable sources. Your objections are blatantly self-serving. Just a way for you to avoid facing how bad the DOJ has become under Trump.

Power has to answer to process, not vice versa, Comey and that James aren't just fighting their charges, they are forcing the Government to prove it still recognizes limits. Trump loses the myth that his will is the Law. Both won't see trial........😁 😉

20 minutes ago, Yagoda said:

What lawyers? The Feds who covered up the Scarpa/Bulger murders? The ones who conveniently lost paperwork until Reles flew out the window? The ones that manufactured evidence against MLK? How about the CIA and Castro? CIA and watergate? Bobby Kennedy ordering the kidnapping of Carlos Marcello?

 

Bet you think the Russia hoax was real.

 

The FBI and the CIA hierarchy  have no credibility. Comey is a manipulative lying authoritarian scum in the tradition of J. Edgar Hoover.

If you think you know something, give SecState Marco Rubio a call, because as Chair of SSCI he produced a report noting there definitely was cooperation between the Trump campaign and Russia.

 

Though this has been noted dozens of times, just search Konstantin Kilimnik.

 

Perhaps you know better than anyone why Campaign Chair Paul Manafort flew to Spain, met Kilimnik, and handed the GRU asset Kilimnik detailed internal polling data from the Trump campaign.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but that doesn't seem normal behavior in a Presidential campaign. The Campaign Chair's first week on the job and he takes the time to fly to Spain to meet with a Russian GRU asset?

3 hours ago, Yagoda said:

NY Times? Notorious liars. Covered up the deaths of millions. Promoted the Russia hoax. Covered for Joe Biden.

 

You havent seen the transcript, you rely on others to tell you what you want to hear and interpret it for you. 

I dont write their headlines.

 

I bet you have never seen a judge "scold" anyone.

If the NYT is, indeed, "notorious liars", off the top of your head you should be able to toss out a hundred times the Times lied.

 

(I addressed Russia in another post. It was not a hoax...."Kilimnik-Manafort")

 

Educate us.

 

OTOH, we know from court cases that Fox is a liar. Two manufacturers of voting machines called them out, and Fox had to pay up huge, while the other is till being adjudicated, as far as I know.

20 minutes ago, Alan Zweibel said:

Find me any news source that disagrees with how fox news and the nytimes characterize the script.

No news source thinks for me. If this matter was of any real interest, Id try to find the transcript myself.

 

14 minutes ago, CANSIAM said:

Both won't see trial.

Betting on a dismissal without trial?

 

10 minutes ago, Wingate said:

If you think you know something, give SecState Marco Rubio a call, because as Chair of SSCI he produced a report noting there definitely was cooperation between the Trump campaign and Russia.

 

Though this has been noted dozens of times, just search Konstantin Kilimnik.

Yeah its hit you real hard LOL

 

5 minutes ago, Wingate said:

If the NYT is, indeed, "notorious liars", off the top of your head you should be able to toss out a hundred times the Times lied.

 

3 million dead Soviet citizens would be able to, but they are dead.

1 minute ago, Yagoda said:

No news source thinks for me. If this matter was of any real interest, Id try to find the transcript myself.

 

 

You've spent an awful lot of time here and elsewehere over an issue that you claim holds any real interest. Once again, your words don't match the facts.

Just now, Alan Zweibel said:

You've spent an awful lot of time here and elsewehere over an issue that you claim holds any real interest. Once again, your words don't match the facts.

Placeholder, you abuse Trump daily. 

9 minutes ago, Yagoda said:

No news source thinks for me. If this matter was of any real interest, Id try to find the transcript myself.

Grand jury transcripts are sealed, Americans would know that.

13 minutes ago, Alan Zweibel said:

You've spent an awful lot of time here and elsewehere over an issue that you claim holds any real interest. Once again, your words don't match the facts.

Im compelled when I see stupidity to respond. Make sure you have a topic ready for each court appearance and ruling

 

Government lawyer looked at by Judge!

Government Lawyer drags toilet paper on his shoe. 

Halo appears over Comeys head as he enters the Court.

Just now, Yagoda said:

Im compelled when I see stupidity to respond.

This certifies my suspicion that you don't bother to read what you write. If you did, you'd be responding forever

9 minutes ago, cjinchiangrai said:

Grand jury transcripts are sealed, Americans would know that.

Who is talking about GJ, this is a public appearance before the magistrate. If you want to make ignorant flaming comments, at least get the facts right.

2 minutes ago, Yagoda said:

Im compelled when I see stupidity to respond. Make sure you have a topic ready for each court appearance and ruling

 

Government lawyer looked at by Judge!

Government Lawyer drags toilet paper on his shoe. 

Halo appears over Comeys head as he enters the Court.

Government lawyer gets cited for contempt and referred for BAR review.

1 minute ago, cjinchiangrai said:

referred for BAR review.

Interesting you raise that. A favoured tactic of the Socialists, "bar fare" LOL. Ask John Eastman, or Kevin Klinesmith