Prosecutors working on the obstruction and perjury charges pending against ex-FBI chief James Comey, indicted recently by a federal grand jury, are suggesting that Comey hired one of the lawyers working on his case in order to suppress evidence that lawyer might have.
It’s because that lawyer, Patrick Fitzgerald, formerly a U.S. attorney in Chicago, may have taken part in the same 2017 media leaks that also involved Comey.
A report at the Washington Examiner said prosecutors are concerned over the “extraordinary” conflict of interest created by Comey’s defense team.
There the defendant hired a potential witness against him to be on his defense team, “and help keep key evidence under wraps,” the report said.
Prosecutors have informed U.S. District Judge Michael Nachmanoff that Fitzgerald may need to be disqualified.
That would be “because of his alleged role in the same 2017 media leaks that underlie the government’s case. Fitzgerald, they said, was involved in the ‘improper disclosure of classified information’ at Comey’s direction shortly after President Donald Trump fired him from the bureau in 2017,” the report said.
They asked the judge for a “filter protocol” that could be applied and allow a neutral team to review communications between Comey and others, including Fitzgerald, and decide whether it is evidence or not.
Prosecutors charged that Comey actually used Fitzgerald to “improperly disclose classified information.”
The DOJ previously has confirmed that Comey leaked copies of his personal memos about what he claims to have said to President Trump to multiple other lawyers, including Fitzgerald.
The report explained, “Former DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s 2019 report described Comey’s actions as a serious breach of policy, saying he ‘set a dangerous example’ for FBI employees by retaining and leaking government documents for ‘a personally desired outcome.’ The watchdog said Comey kept four of seven memos in a personal safe at home after his firing and failed to notify the bureau he had done so.”
Comey allegedly used the retained government memos to help “trigger” the creation of a job for special counsel Robert Mueller.
The Examiner said, “Fitzgerald’s own involvement in transmitting Comey’s memos to other lawyers could make him a fact witness in the case, raising ethical questions about whether he can simultaneously defend his former client.”