James Comey tried to take a victory lap last week after a federal judge tossed the indictment against him, but FBI Director Kash Patel just made it clear the celebration might be a little premature. Speaking with The Epoch Times, Patel essentially told Comey to keep his confetti in the drawer because the Justice Department isn’t finished with him, not by a long shot.
Comey was indicted back on September 25 on two counts, one for making false statements to Congress and another for obstruction of justice. The charges stem from his 2020 testimony regarding FBI leaks to the media during the Trump Russia saga. The indictment laid out that Comey obstructed a congressional investigation into the disclosure of sensitive information and lied when he claimed he never authorized anyone at the FBI to serve as an anonymous source. Of course, we all remember what happened. His associate leaked Comey’s memos to the New York Times at Comey’s direction. Everyone knows it. Comey just didn’t want to admit it under oath.
But instead of defending himself on the merits, Comey lucked out on a technicality. U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie threw out the indictment after ruling that the interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia had been improperly appointed. No ruling on guilt or innocence, no vindication, just a procedural loophole. And the judge dismissed the indictments without prejudice, meaning they can be re-filed.
That’s where Patel stepped in. When asked about Comey celebrating the dismissal, Patel said, “The judicial process can make whatever determination it wants, but we at the FBI and our partners at the DOJ have numerous options to proceed, and we’re executing on all those options. So we’re not done.” That is not a man speaking hypothetically. That is someone who knows the next steps are already in motion. He even hinted that updates could drop soon after Thanksgiving.
The backdrop here is important. The previous U.S. attorney, Erik Siebert, reportedly walked out under pressure to indict Comey. The statute of limitations was about to expire, so the indictment was rushed under an interim appointment. That timing flaw gave Comey his temporary exit.
Temporary is the key word. Patel’s tone signals that the DOJ is preparing alternative avenues and possibly a new prosecutor to bring the charges back. Comey can stay smug for now, but the people who exposed what he did in 2016 and 2017 are not backing off. This story is far from over.
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