Prosecutors suggest they may move to disqualify Comey’s attorney

<figure><img src=”https://s3.amazonaws.com/syndication.abcaudio.com/files/2025-10-20/Getty_JamesComey_102025.jpg” alt=””><figcaption>James Comey, former FBI Director, speaks at the Barnes & Noble Upper West Side on May 19, 2025 in New York City. . (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>(NEW YORK) — Federal prosecutors in James Comey’s <a href=”https://abcnews.go.com/US/former-fbi-director-james-comey-indicted-days-after/story?id=125935658″>criminal case</a> suggested in a new filing that they may move to disqualify Comey’s lead attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald, from continuing to represent the former FBI director over a potential conflict of interest issue. In a filing late Sunday night, prosecutors told U.S. District Judge Michael Nachmanoff that Fitzgerald’s alleged involvement in providing information to the media for Comey after Comey was fired by President Donald Trump in 2017 could “inform a potential conflict and disqualification issue.” They urged Nachmanoff to act quickly to set forth a procedure for all parties on the case to review evidence that is currently under quarantine because it involves communications between Comey and “several attorneys” and could involve privileged communications. Fitzgerald has already raised alarm over the government’s handling of the process and raised pointed questions about why prosecutors didn’t previously determine how they’d handle the potentially privileged communications before moving to indict Comey on charges he made false statements to Congress in 2020. Comey, who has denied the charges, <a href=”https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fabcnews.go.com%2FPolitics%2Fformer-fbi-director-james-comey-make-1st-court%2Fstory%3Fid%3D126322951&data=05%7C02%7CMarc.E.Nathanson%40abc.com%7Ca1d8d44c0a58460636c808de0fe69897%7C56b731a8a2ac4c32bf6b616810e913c6%7C1%7C0%7C638965680240868315%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=wMrj8EVKmcpjiCGKsLmZwSOT%2BL4WzXP%2BKhuwFiaCh9k%3D&reserved=0″>pleaded not guilty</a> earlier this month to one count of false statements and one count of obstruction of a congressional proceeding related to his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2020, amid what critics call Trump’s <a href=”https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fabcnews.go.com%2FUS%2Flist-individuals-including-lisa-cook-targeted-trump-administration%2Fstory%3Fid%3D124968309&data=05%7C02%7CMarc.E.Nathanson%40abc.com%7Ca1d8d44c0a58460636c808de0fe69897%7C56b731a8a2ac4c32bf6b616810e913c6%7C1%7C0%7C638965680240889586%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=OzB3KgLWzwY2Y1PNWuUxbLgkAkvMv2r8y%2BY1Tc%2BZNEY%3D&reserved=0″>campaign of retribution</a> against his perceived political foes. Vice President JD Vance has said any such prosecutions are “driven by law and not by politics.” The potential push to disqualify Fitzgerald, a close friend of Comey’s with a storied background as a former Justice Department official-turned-high-powered white collar attorney, comes as Fitzgerald has already said he plans to have a court invalidate President Trump’s pick for the prosecutor that brought charges against Comey, Lindsey Halligan. Fitzgerald was expected to make a series of filings Monday outlining his arguments that Halligan was unlawfully appointed as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, just four days before she went to a grand jury and sought Comey’s indictment over what sources say were the <a href=”https://abcnews.go.com/US/prosecutors-memo-new-us-attorney-recommended-plans-charge/story?id=125925246″>objections of career prosecutors</a>.The grand jury ultimately voted to indict Comey on two of three charges sought by Halligan related to Comey’s 2020 congressional testimony regarding the FBI’s <a href=”https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/russia-probe-timeline-moscow-mueller/story?id=57427441″>Russia probe</a> and whether Comey authorized leaks of anonymous information to the media. Fitzgerald was also expected to argue in a filing Monday that the prosecution of Comey was “vindictive” in nature and at the direct urging of President Trump, citing Trump’s extensive history of statements calling for Comey to be jailed. While legal experts argue there’s an extraordinarily high bar for tossing a prosecution based on the argument of malicious prosecution, Comey’s case should be a unique test of the legal standard, given Trump’s ousting of the office’s senior prosecutor who resisted bringing charges and his public call on social media for Attorney General Pam Bondi to <a href=”https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-allowed-involved-comey-case-indictment-doj/story?id=125935132″>act “now”</a> to prosecute Comey and other political enemies. Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Author
Recent Posts

twest

Related Story