Federal prosecutors are moving to remove former FBI Director James Comey’s lawyer. The lead attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald, may have a conflict of interest in the case.
“Based on publicly disclosed information, the defendant used current lead defense counsel to improperly disclose classified information,” prosecutors Tyler Lemons and Gabriel Diaz wrote in the filing, as reported by Politico. “This fact raises a question of conflict and disqualification for current lead defense counsel.”
“Some of the communications in the potentially protected material are from the same time as the focus of the DOJ OIG report,” the prosecutors noted, referencing a 2019 report from the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General, which criticized Comey for sharing information about his conversations with Trump to his lawyers. “Before litigating any issue of conflict or disqualification, the parties should have access to all relevant and non-privileged information. The sooner that the potentially protected information is reviewed and filtered, the sooner the parties can make any appropriate filings with the Court.”
Some of the information shared was later considered to be classified.
Fitzgerald subsequently argued that the government’s claim “is provably false and in any event provides no basis to grant the motion to expedite.”
“In short, there is no good faith basis for attributing criminal conduct to either Mr. Comey or his lead defense counsel,” the filing adds. “Similarly, there is no good faith basis to claim a ‘conflict’ between Mr. Comey and his counsel, much less a basis to move to disqualify lead defense counsel.”
Comey pleaded not guilty last week to two federal charges, making a false statement and obstructing a congressional proceeding.
