Federal Prosecutors Seek to Oust James Comey’s Lead Defense Attorney, Citing a Conflict of Interest
A grand jury returned an indictment in September charging former FBI Director James Comey with making false statements to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding. Comey pleaded not guilty on October 8, and the case has moved quickly into courtroom fights over counsel. Federal prosecutors now want Comey’s lead lawyer removed, saying a conflict of interest taints the defense.
The dispute centers on Patrick Fitzgerald, a longtime federal prosecutor who joined Comey’s legal team in 2017. Prosecutors argue Fitzgerald isn’t just counsel but is personally involved in the very facts under scrutiny, specifically the handling and disclosure of Comey’s FBI memos after he was fired. That alleged involvement, they say, creates a disqualifying conflict.
Federal prosecutors signaled Sunday that they may seek to boot Patrick Fitzgerald, James Comey’s lead defense attorney, because of Fitzgerald’s alleged involvement in disclosures to the media shortly after President Donald Trump fired Comey as FBI director in 2017.
In a submission Sunday evening, prosecutors suggested to U.S. District Judge Michael Nachmanoff that Fitzgerald, Comey’s lawyer and close friend, could have an insurmountable conflict of interest as a result of the disclosures.
Fitzgerald’s resume is well known: he served as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois and was appointed by Comey as special prosecutor in the CIA-leak matter involving Valerie Plame in 2003. He later became a private attorney and allied with Comey after the 2016-17 conflicts at the FBI. Now prosecutors point to those prior connections as evidence that Fitzgerald may have crossed a line between advising Comey and actively participating in disclosures.
In sharp language, prosecutors Tyler Lemons and Gabriel Diaz wrote in their filing, “Based on publicly disclosed information, the defendant used current lead defense counsel to improperly disclose classified information. This fact raises a question of conflict and disqualification for current lead defense counsel.” That line is the crux of their motion to the judge.
The government’s filing cites a 2019 Justice Department inspector general report that described Fitzgerald as acting like a “middleman” who helped funnel information from Comey to the press in the days before President Trump fired him. Comey later acknowledged during Senate testimony that he had asked his friend, Columbia law professor Daniel Richman, to pass information to the New York Times. The inspector general said some of that material was classified.
From a conservative perspective the move by prosecutors is significant because it raises basic questions about fairness and accountability in the justice system. If a lead defense attorney is implicated in the alleged misconduct at the center of the case, that threatens both the integrity of the defense and the prosecution’s duty to seek a clean, lawful process. Republicans will point to this as proof that even elite figures and their inner circles must face the same rules as everyone else.
The potential disqualification also changes courtroom dynamics: removing Fitzgerald would force Comey to replace a trusted adviser midstream, and it could expose prior communications to closer judicial scrutiny. That could open doors for further evidence about who handled classified memos and how they reached reporters, which has been a political headache since 2017. For prosecutors, disqualification is a lever to narrow who can advocate for Comey and what defenses remain available.
Editor’s Note: The Schumer Shutdown is here. Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown for healthcare for illegals. They own this.
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