Judge Drops Bombshell Ruling Against Trump in Comey Case

Speaker 1 The James Comey criminal case just blew up in Donald Trump's face as we expected.

Speaker 1 It's a catastrophic turn of events that they should have seen coming for Trump, his DOJ, and especially Lindsey Halligan.

Speaker 1 If your name is Lindsey Halligan right now, you need to be very nervous about what just went down this morning because your bar license and perhaps even more is on the line right now after these findings.

Speaker 1 A federal magistrate judge, Judge Fitzpatrick, found that there was likely massive grand jury misconduct that led to the indictment of James Comey.

Speaker 1 Judge Fitzpatrick talks about how Lindsay Halligan, who was alone in the room with the grand jury, likely gave the grand jury false information about the law on at least two different critical legal instructions.

Speaker 1 She just lied about the law, it seems. Also, the judge, Judge Fitzpatrick, does not believe Lindsay Halligan that she provided the full grand jury transcripts.

Speaker 1 The judge says that's impossible because initially the grand jury did not return an indictment when there were three counts listed.

Speaker 1 So you had to go back, Halligan, print out a copy of the indictment with two counts and then represent it to the grand jury. And that is missing.
Where did that go?

Speaker 1 So, when you've said you've turned it over and you filed the declaration, Judge Fitzpatrick is not buying it.

Speaker 1 Judge Fitzpatrick has ordered an extraordinary remedy of turning over the grand jury materials at this early stage, pre-trial, to James Comey and James Comey's lawyer.

Speaker 1 That only happens in the most extraordinary of circumstances.

Speaker 1 And Judge Fitzpatrick says, based on these specific findings that I'm making, this satisfies those extraordinary circumstances where grand jury testimony should be turned over and grand jury material needs to be turned over to James Comey and James Comey's lawyers.

Speaker 1 Now, we know Lindsay Halligan was never a federal prosecutor before. She was not a trial lawyer.

Speaker 1 She was a beauty pageant contestant, turned insurance lawyer, who Trump brought on to be a personal lawyer.

Speaker 1 And then right before the statute of limitations was about to expire in the James Comey case, Donald Trump posted that message on social media saying, Pam Bondi, tell Lindsey Halligan to go and bring this indictment against my political enemies, James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James, Adam Schiff, and others.

Speaker 1 Lindsey Halligan obliged the Trump regime, forced out the Republican United States attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia. Halligan took over that role.

Speaker 1 Again, having no federal prosecutorial experience, having never been in a grand jury room before.

Speaker 1 And then you'll recall that right here on the Midas Touch network, I was saying over and over again, go back to the videos from when that indictment was first secured.

Speaker 1 I said, I guarantee you, she was giving the grand jury incorrect information about the law and incorrect facts, and that there was misconduct in the grand jury because there's a reason why no other federal prosecutor would bring this case, including Republican federal prosecutors.

Speaker 1 One other thing that the judge points out as well about how these grand jury proceedings were tainted with misconduct.

Speaker 1 Apparently, the FBI agent who was the only person who testified in the room to the grand jury, His testimony may have been based on attorney-client privileged information between James Comey and his lawyer, Daniel Richman, or another lawyer of his, Daniel Richman, to form the basis of the presentation, which is against the law to do that, to invade attorney-client privilege without the filter protocols in place.

Speaker 1 And the judge suggests that that was willful and malicious and intentionally done.

Speaker 1 And there were multiple misrepresentations potentially made to the grand jury to secure this indictment of James Comey. This ruling is so extraordinary.

Speaker 1 I want to go through it with you in a very methodical way so you can hear the words of Judge Fitzpatrick, the magistrate judge, who made this extraordinary order.

Speaker 1 Government turn over all of the grand jury material, including testimony to James Comey and James Comey's lawyers.

Speaker 1 Let's take a look at Lindsey Halligan potentially giving false instructions to the jury about the law. Here's what the judge says.

Speaker 1 The prosecutor's statement that and this portion gets rejected is a fundamental and highly prejudicial misstatement of the law that suggests the grand jury, that suggests to the grand jury that Mr.

Speaker 1 Comey does not have a Fifth Amendment right not to testify at trial. The prosecutor's statement ignores the foundational rule of law that if Mr.

Speaker 1 Comey exercised his right not to testify, the jury could draw no negative inferences from the decision. The prosecutor's statement that, and then this portion gets redacted,

Speaker 1 may have reasonably set an expectation in the minds of the grand jurors that rather than the government bear the burden to prove Mr.

Speaker 1 Comey's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial, the burden shifts to Mr. Comey to explain away the government's evidence.

Speaker 1 In other words, did Lindsey Halligan essentially imply, we may not have all of the information right now, but we don't have to have it right now.

Speaker 1 James Comey can rebut the evidence at trial if he wants, but the burden is on Comey, which is an absolutely false statement of the law.

Speaker 1 Second, Judge Fitzpatrick says, the prosecutor told the grand jury that there was, and this portion gets redacted, this statement clearly suggested to the grand jury that they did not have to rely only on the record before them to determine probable cause, but could be assured that the government had more evidence, perhaps better evidence, that would be presented at trial.

Speaker 1 In other words, the grand jury was skeptical that the evidence that was being presented was enough to indict James Comey.

Speaker 1 But it seems that Lindsey Halligan said, basically, all you have to do is believe us that in the future we have better evidence. We don't need to show you all the evidence right now.

Speaker 1 This is all we've got. So just trust us that there's probable cause in the future, which is a misstatement of law.
So the judge, having read this, says, this is completely not what the law is.

Speaker 1 You're not allowed to tell a grand jury that.

Speaker 1 You need to show this to James Comey and his lawyers so that they now can use it in a motion to dismiss based on grand jury misconduct as a result of what Lindsey Halligan did right here.

Speaker 1 One of the things that the judge also talks about is the disclosure of privileged information from Daniel Richmond, Comey's former lawyer, and basically the main person that the prosecution is claiming that James Comey gave information to to go to the press

Speaker 1 back in 2017 or 2016. And then Comey lied to the Senate as the argument about not telling people to go to the press is Comey's own former lawyer and friend, Daniel Richman, a Columbia law professor.

Speaker 1 So just think about it like this.

Speaker 1 The two witnesses who the prosecutors claim support, you know, who the prosecutors claim would support their claim against Comey. One was Andrew McCabe, who's been here on the Midas Touch network.

Speaker 1 And he said, Comey never instructed me to go to the press. He didn't have to.
He didn't have to authorize me. I did it on my own.
So that can't form the basis.

Speaker 1 The other is Comey's own personal lawyer, Daniel Richman. And Richman says, Comey never authorized me to go to the press, but Richman was also Comey's own personal lawyer.

Speaker 1 And the information between them is attorney-client privilege that can't be invaded by the government in this fashion.

Speaker 1 So what the court says here is the nature and circumstances surrounding the disclosure of potentially privileged information established a reasonable basis to question whether the government's conduct was willful or in reckless disregard of the law.

Speaker 1 This is particularly significant because Agent 3, that's the only FBI agent to testify, after having been exposed to potentially privileged information, chose to testify before the grand jury rather than separate himself from the investigation to contain any further exposure to privileged information and limit any prejudice to Mr.

Speaker 1 Comey.

Speaker 1 The judge goes on to talk about how, as discussed above, the prosecutor made statements to the grand juries that could reasonably form the basis for the defense to challenge whether the grand jury proceedings were infected with constitutional error.

Speaker 1 And the grand jury transcript and recording likely do not reflect the full proceedings because although it is clear that a second indictment was

Speaker 1 prepared and presented to the grand jury, the transcript and audio recording of the proceedings do not reflect any further communication after the grand jury began deliberating on the first indictment.

Speaker 1 So do you get that point there? The grand jury received two indictments. And again, this is not what's supposed to happen.
They usually get one indictment.

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Speaker 1 So at first, the grand jury was given a three-count indictment. They rejected that.

Speaker 1 Then Lindsey Halligan went back, printed out another version and said, okay, let's try this one, a two-count indictment. The recordings and transcripts stop after the first one.

Speaker 1 So what happened with the second indictment? Do you get what I'm saying?

Speaker 1 So that's why the judge says clearly there is missing grand jury testimony because you presented two indictments to this grand jury. And just so if you're confused, why would she present two?

Speaker 1 They're not supposed to. They're just supposed to do one.
And if the grand jury doesn't indict on certain counts, those counts are removed. You don't keep printing out extra indictments.

Speaker 1 But that's why we know that this, that's why Judge Curry, also a second.

Speaker 1 separate judge in the disqualification of Lindsey Halligan proceedings, believed that there was missing grand jury testimony because where would it be presented

Speaker 1 the second grand the second indictment where would that be presented here's the conclusion from Judge Fitzpatrick this magistrate judge the court recognizes that the relief sought by defense is rarely granted by Comey it's rarely granted that you get grand jury testimony at this stage and grand jury materials well if you go well Ben when do you get it the only time you actually get the grand jury materials, if you're the criminal defendant, is if the witness,

Speaker 1 the witness who testified in the grand jury, in this case, FBI agent three is how he's being described.

Speaker 1 If that agent testifies at the actual trial, right before he testifies, you basically make a motion. We want to get the grand jury testimony to cross-examine him.

Speaker 1 And then you get the testimony just as it relates to that agent or that witness to cross-examine that witness if they testify a trial.

Speaker 1 Otherwise, you really don't get this and the public doesn't see and nobody sees it because it relies on prosecutors who are supposed to be skilled and ethical going through this process the right way.

Speaker 1 And it should be noted too, just in case you're confused, in our grand jury system, the judge is not in the room. The defendant is not in the room.
The only people in the room are the prosecutors.

Speaker 1 There's usually multiple, it's usually a team, and the grand jury. That's it.
In this case, it was just Lindsay Halligan. She didn't come with the team, and the grand jury.

Speaker 1 So now we're seeing all, and she's never done that in her life before. And now we're seeing that this whole proceeding was likely tainted with lies, false instructions about the law, and misconduct.

Speaker 1 So it goes, the court recognizes that the relief sought by defense is rarely granted.

Speaker 1 However, 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.

Speaker 1 Therefore, in this case, the court has before it a rare example of a criminal defendant who can actually make a particularized and factually based showing that grounds exist to support the proposition that irregularities may have occurred in the grand jury proceedings and may justify the dismissal of one or more counts of the indictment, signed Judge Fitzpatrick right there.

Speaker 1 And just so you can read the intro, this matter is before the court to address the narrow issue of whether there is a particular and factually based grounds to justify the disclosure of these grand jury materials.

Speaker 1 And the court says, absolutely, there is right here.

Speaker 1 I could just also go through with you on page 15, the statements of the prosecutor to the grand jury. Let me just go through this with you one more time right here.

Speaker 1 Having been requested by the government to review the grand jury materials, the court has identified two statements by the prosecutors to the grand jury that on their face appear to be fundamental misstatements of the law that could compromise the integrity of the grand jury process.

Speaker 1 Both statements by the prosecutors are in response to questions by grand jurors and are directly related to communications involving Mr. Comey.

Speaker 1 Then it goes first, after having advised the grand jury that the prosecutor was their legal advisor, the prosecutor stated blank, the prosecutor's statement that blank is a fundamentally and highly prejudicial statement of the law that suggests to the grand jury that Mr.

Speaker 1 Comey does not have a fifth amendment right to testify at trial. The prosecutor's statement ignores the foundational rule of law that if Mr.

Speaker 1 Comey exercised his right not to testify, the jury could draw no negative inferences.

Speaker 1 And it goes on to say the prosecutor's statement may have reasonably set an expectation in the minds of grand jurors that rather than the government bear the burden to prove Mr.

Speaker 1 Comey's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial, that the burden shifts to Mr. Comey to explain away the government's evidence.

Speaker 1 In addition, the statement by the prosecutor was made in response to challenging questions from grand jurors, the context of which suggests the grand jurors may have reasonably understood the prosecutor to mean that if she cannot satisfactorily answer their questions, then Mr.

Speaker 1 Comey would blank answer their questions at trial.

Speaker 1 So there you have it, folks. Wow, wow, wow.
We'll keep you posted every step of the way, but

Speaker 1 haven't read a ruling like that, I think, of my entire legal career. Hit subscribe.
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