A federal judge ordered the Justice Department on Friday to return data it seized and obtained in 2017 from a longtime friend of former FBI Director James Comey, concluding that prosecutors had violated law professor Daniel Richman’s constitutional rights and misused his material in their quest to indict Comey.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled that the material from Richman — an image of his hard drive and files from his iCloud and Columbia University email accounts — was handled with “callous disregard” for Richman’s rights. Prosecutors rummaged through the materials without a warrant as they pursued a slapdash case against Comey, the judge found, calling it a “remarkable breach of protocol.”
However, in a significant concession to prosecutors, Kollar-Kotelly ordered that a copy of all the data the government obtained be deposited with a federal court in Virginia. That provision, the judge said, would ensure that prosecutors could seek to regain access to the materials if they can persuade the court there to do so.
“This Court concludes that although Petitioner Richman is entitled to the return of the improperly seized and searched materials at issue here,” the Clinton-appointed judge wrote, “he is not entitled to an order preventing the Government from ‘using or relying on’ those materials in a separate investigation or proceeding, as long as they are obtained through a valid warrant and judicial order.”
An attorney for Richman did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the judge’s order. A Justice Department spokesperson and an attorney for Comey, Patrick Fitzgerald, declined to comment.
Kollar-Kotelly temporarily blocked prosecutors’ access to Richman’s data and emails last week after his lawyers filed an emergency motion with the federal court in Washington, D.C., arguing that the government’s continued possession of his information was unconstitutional.
Details about prosecutors’ handling of Richman’s records emerged after Comey was indicted in September on felony charges of making a false statement to Congress in 2020 and obstructing a Senate committee. A federal judge dismissed the charges last month, ruling that the prosecutor handpicked by President Donald Trump to pursue the case – Lindsey Halligan – was illegally appointed.
Kollar-Kotelly’s ruling represents an additional hurdle in a daunting series of obstacles already facing prosecutors seeking to revive the case against Comey. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the Justice Department would file an immediate appeal but none has yet been filed.
Defense attorneys have also made clear they would challenge any new charges against Comey as violations of a five-year statute of limitations. That period expired just after Comey was indicted in September, but prosecutors contend it has been automatically extended by the dismissal order.
Prosecutors argued to Kollar-Kotelly that Richman was simply trying to protect his friend from renewed charges, but the judge rejected that.
“The Government overlooks Petitioner Richman’s own compelling interest in controlling access to this material for his own private and professional purposes, including preserving his own privacy and his professional confidences,” she wrote.
The Justice Department first obtained Richman’s materials in 2017, when it was investigating the circumstances surrounding the fallout of Trump’s decision to fire Comey as FBI director. Comey later told Congress that he had given Richman memos he drafted about his interactions with Trump and instructed Richman to share them with a reporter.
During the ensuing investigation, Richman permitted the FBI to image his hard drive. Prosecutors later obtained search warrants for that data and Richman’s email accounts, but that investigation concluded without any charges being filed.
