Prosecutors Suggest James Comey’s Attorney Could Be Disqualified

Federal prosecutors suggested Sunday night that they may seek to disqualify former FBI Director James Comey’s attorney.

Public information shows Patrick Fitzgerald, the lawyer representing Comey, allegedly helped the former FBI director “improperly disclose classified information,” prosecutors wrote in a Sunday filing.

Comey faces charges for allegedly lying to Congress about authorizing someone to be “an anonymous source in news reports” during his September 2020 testimony and obstruction of a congressional proceeding.

Comey’s attorneys argued in a Monday filing it is “provably false” that Comey used Fitzgerald to disclose classified information.

“In short, there is no good faith basis for attributing criminal conduct to either Mr. Comey or his lead defense counsel,” Comey’s attorneys wrote Monday. “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 sent copies of four memos to Fitzgerald in May 2017, shortly after being fired by President Donald Trump, instructing him to share them with his other attorneys, David Kelley and Daniel Richman. Comey directed Richman to share the contents of one of the memos detailing a conversation with Trump with a New York Times reporter, according