As DOJ seeks to recharge Comey, judge deprives prosecutors from accessing key evidence for now

By Katelyn Polantz, CNN

(CNN) — In a major win for former FBI Director James Comey in the Justice Department’s continued attempts to prosecute him, a judge is depriving federal investigators from accessing central evidence in the case for the foreseeable future.

The federal judge’s ruling late Friday says investigators must return electronic data they kept from Comey’s friend and former lawyer Daniel Richman immediately, calling the search that led to the data “manifestly unconstitutional.”

The evidence was first gathered more than five years ago in a leak investigation that resulted in no charges. Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the DC District Court found Friday that the Justice Department had accessed the evidence unconstitutionally while the Trump administration investigated Comey again this year around a separate possible years-old FBI leak.

“The Government has violated his Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches and seizures and invaded his privacy,” Kollar-Kotelly wrote in a scorching 46-page opinion.

“The Government’s warrantless search of the contents of Petitioner Richman’s cell phone and tablet in September 2025 was manifestly unconstitutional,” she wrote.

Comey pleaded not guilty to lying to Congress before the case against him was dismissed last month by a judge who found the interim US attorney, Lindsey Halligan, was serving in the role unlawfully.

The Justice Department could now go to the court in the Eastern District of Virginia for access to the Richman evidence in an attempt to revive the Comey case, Kollar-Kotelly said. However, the prosecutorial steps around Comey’s case have prompted multiple judges in the court to be frustrated and deeply critical of the US attorney’s office’s actions in the district.

Kollar-Kotelly ordered that a copy of the Richman evidence is kept in the hands of the Virginia federal district court, so that the Justice Department may access it again only if it receives proper approval from a judge there.

“Requiring the Government to return all copies of the files to Petitioner Richman could unduly impede the Government’s interests in pursuing future investigations and prosecutions if — as the Government strongly suggests in its briefing — it intends to pursue further prosecution of Mr. Comey,” Kollar-Kotelly wrote Friday, adding that because the evidence “may be relevant” to an investigation in the Eastern District of Virginia, “depositing the evidence under seal with the District Court for that District is the appropriate course of action.”

CNN has reached out to Richman and the Justice Department for comment.

The developments following the dismissal of the Justice Department cases against Comey and another Trump political foe, Letitia James, have sent the US attorney’s office in Arlington, Virginia, into chaos. But Attorney General Pam Bondi and President Donald Trump have made clear they want to prosecute the two defendants.

CNN previously reported the Department wanted to reindict Comey quickly following his case’s dismissal, before the Richman evidence dispute thwarted another round at the grand jury.

The Justice Department insists Trump’s choice to lead the office, his former personal lawyer Halligan, is still the US attorney, despite a court decision saying she doesn’t have that authority. And two attempts to revive the case against James, the New York state attorney general, have failed before grand juries in the last two weeks.

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