A federal judge ordered the Justice Department on Friday to return data it seized and obtained in 2017 from a longtime friend of former FBI Director James Comey, concluding that prosecutors had violated law professor Daniel Richman’s constitutional rights and misused his material in their quest to indict Comey.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled that the material from Richman — an image of his hard drive and files from his iCloud and Columbia University email accounts — was handled with “callous disregard” for Richman’s rights. Prosecutors rummaged through the materials without a warrant as they pursued a slapdash case against Comey, the judge found, calling it a “remarkable breach of protocol.”
However, in a significant concession to prosecutors, Kollar-Kotelly ordered that a copy of all the data the government obtained be deposited with a federal court in Virginia. That provision, the judge said, would ensure that prosecutors could seek to regain access to the materials if they can persuade the court there to do so.
“This Court concludes that although Petitioner Richman is entitled to the return of the improperly seized and searched materials at issue here,” the Clinton-appointed judge wrote, “he is not entitled to an order preventing the Government from ‘using or relying on’ those materials in a separate investigation or proceeding, as long as they are obtained through a valid warrant and judicial order.”
Israel’s security cabinet has signed off on plans to formalise 19 illegal settlements across the occupied West Bank, in a move Palestinian officials say deepens a decades-long project of land theft and demographic engineering.
Germany summoned the Russian ambassador on Friday, accusing Moscow of orchestrating a cyberattack on the nation’s air traffic control systems and attempting to meddle in the country’s federal elections earlier this year.
The Trump administration is proposing new rules that would further tighten its grip on who's allowed into the U.S., asking visitors from several dozen countries that benefit from visa-free travel to hand over their social media history and other personal information.
U.S. service members — including staff officers and at least one drone pilot — are seeking advice from outside groups, fearing they could face legal consequences for any involvement in the Trump administration's lethal strikes on suspected drug boats.
On a December day when temperatures dipped below 20 degrees, Street Vendor Project staff walked along a busy commercial street in the Bronx, handing out “know your rights” information to vendors selling fruits and vegetables. Several vendors mentioned they were scared after watching videos of immigration raids across the city.
House Democrats have published a new tranche of what they called “disturbing” photographs from the estate of the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, featuring among others Donald Trump, Bill Clinton and the British former royal Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
