Judge Delays Ruling on Comey Dismissal Bid as Justice Department Seeks New Indictment

A federal judge in Washington on Friday put off a decision on whether to dismiss a placeholder criminal case against former FBI Director James Comey, giving the Justice Department time to seek a grand jury indictment. U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee, heard arguments for more than an hour in the third criminal case the Trump administration has brought against Comey. Prosecutors filed two felony charges earlier this month over alleged disclosures to The New York Times in 2016 about surveillance practices, tied to an alleged leak of classified information a decade ago. They used a criminal information, a procedure that lets prosecutors temporarily sidestep a grand jury, and filed on the last day of the 10-year statute of limitations. Prosecutors say that satisfied the deadline. Comey's lawyers say an indictment was required by then and was not obtained. McFadden appeared skeptical of the government's approach but signaled he may wait for further prosecutorial action rather than throw out the charges immediately.

Left-leaning MS NOW, in the material available, casts the story as a judge weighing Comey's effort to dismiss his "new" charges and stresses that this is the third case the Trump administration has brought against him. It gives no further detail on the arguments. Right-leaning Townhall leads with the possibility that the indictment "might get tossed," borrows Politico's account of the hearing, and stresses McFadden's Trump appointment and his skepticism. It also describes the administration as pursuing Comey for what it calls subversive and reckless conduct. Both sides center on Comey's dismissal bid and the third prosecution. They differ in emphasis: MS NOW stresses the repeated cases, Townhall stresses the legal weakness. AP adds that prosecutors are seeking a new indictment, and Straight Arrow News stresses the rare filing on the deadline day.