Overview
- U.S. prosecutors asked Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly to dissolve her temporary restraining order that bars access to material taken from Daniel Richman’s devices.
- The order, issued Saturday, keeps investigators from using the data through Friday and put the dispute on a fast track with certification and briefing deadlines.
- Justice Department lawyers argue the sequestration effectively stops their investigation of James Comey and say Richman cannot use a civil suit to constrain a criminal inquiry.
- Richman claims prior warrants and the government’s retention and later searches of his data violated the Fourth Amendment, and the court directed the data to be identified and secured.
- The original Comey and Letitia James indictments were tossed over Lindsey Halligan’s unlawful appointment; DOJ is weighing next steps as a Norfolk grand jury recently declined to indict James and Halligan signed the new filing as “United States Attorney” under OLC guidance.