Former FBI Director and author James Comey speaks at Barnes & Noble Upper West Side in New York City on May 19, 2025. Mr. Comey sat down with Mr. Esposito to talk about his career and his new book, “FDR DRIVE,” the third in a series of fictional crime novels featuring attorney Nora Carlton.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Prosecutors must return evidence seized from key figures in the dismissed criminal case against former FBI Director James Comey, but the U.S. Justice Department can seek new warrants for the information, a federal judge has ruled.
The ruling is at least a temporary setback for prosecutors who are considering re-indicting Comey, one of President Donald Trump’s critics, whom the Justice Department had sought to prosecute.
Richman’s attorney declined to comment Saturday.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Koller Kotelly in Washington ruled that prosecutors must return files seized from Daniel Richman, a law professor and Mr. Comey’s former lawyer, but that a copy can be deposited with the court for safekeeping in case prosecutors seek a new warrant.
Richman filed a lawsuit last month seeking to bar prosecutors from using materials he says were wrongly seized during investigations in 2019 and 2020. The investigation concluded in 2021 without charges.
Coller-Kottery, whose decision was announced Friday night, wrote that keeping copies of Richman’s files without protecting them from warrantless search in a new investigation constitutes an unwarranted seizure of Richman’s assets.
But the judge declined to prevent the Justice Department from using or relying on the material in the future, saying prosecutors should be free to pursue leads and obtain warrants again based on information from the file.
Prosecutors used the files this year to substantiate charges against Comey. The former FBI director was indicted in October on charges of lying and obstructing Congress in connection with his 2020 testimony about FBI employees providing anonymous information to the news media.
A federal judge last month dismissed a criminal case against Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, another alleged political opponent of Trump. The judge ruled that both indictments were secured by an illegally appointed U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
