o borrow a line from a fellow Missourian, reports of the Comey prosecution\u2019s death have been greatly exaggerated. Despite the media\u2019s best efforts to wish it away, former FBI Director James Comey is very much still facing the music. Comey was indicted in late September on two counts stemming from his testimony during a September 2020 congressional hearing \u2014 the very same hearing where he delivered the kind of evasive, carefully lawyered answers that became his trademark at the FBI:<\/p>\n
False statements within the jurisdiction of the legislative branch of the United States Government [18 U.S.C. \u00a7 1001(a)(2)]<\/em><\/p>\n
Obstruction of a Congressional proceeding [18 U.S.C. \u00a7 1505]<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
There was some chatter Wednesday afternoon after a hearing on Comey\u2019s latest attempt to wriggle off the hook \u2014 this time by claiming \u201cvindictive prosecution.\u201d During the proceeding, U.S. District Judge Michael Nachmanoff of the Eastern District of Virginia reportedly pressed DOJ attorneys about\u00a0an apparent discrepancy\u00a0between the indictment form shown to the grand jury and the version ultimately filed with the court:<\/p>\n
The Justice Department acknowledged Wednesday that the grand jury that indicted former FBI Director James Comey was never shown the final version of the charges.<\/em><\/p>\n
Prosecutors revealed the lapse under questioning by the judge overseeing the case. Comey\u2019s attorneys argued the omission warrants dismissing the indictment. The judge did not immediately rule.<\/em><\/p>\n
In a back-and-forth in Judge Michael Nachmanoff\u2019s courtroom in the Eastern District of Virginia on Wednesday, DOJ attorney Tyler Lemons admitted that the indictment handed up on Comey was never fully reviewed by the full grand jury. Instead, Halligan brought an altered version to the magistrate\u2019s courtroom for the grand jury\u2019s foreperson to sign.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Naturally, this led the \u2018mainstream media\u2019 to produce some rather ominous headlines and stories:<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s DOJ Admits Comey Grand Jury Never Saw Final Indictment<\/em>
\nComey case hanging by a thread as judge squeezes DOJ over Halligan\u2019s handling<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\nAnd that development came right on the heels of a Monday ruling by Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick, who ordered the DOJ to hand over grand jury materials to Comey\u2019s defense team \u2014 something that almost never happens under normal circumstances.<\/p>\n
All of this understandably led to speculation that the Comey indictment was on life support. I saw the same reports floating around yesterday and even started drafting a piece myself \u2014 but I held back, because everything we had came from secondhand accounts of what was said in the courtroom. The available filings didn\u2019t yet paint a clear picture.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s a good thing I waited. After the hearing, the DOJ filed its objections to Judge Fitzpatrick\u2019s order requiring disclosure of grand jury materials, and then \u2014 earlier today \u2014 submitted a notice correcting the record. Taken together, those filings make it clear the grand jury did, in fact, return a true bill on two counts, exactly the ones spelled out in the indictment.<\/p>\n
The confusion stemmed from the fact that prosecutors originally presented three counts. The grand jury declined to indict on the first one, but did indict on the second and third. The indictment was then adjusted to remove the rejected count, elevating the remaining two into the official charges \u2014 and that amended two-count indictment was properly signed by the foreperson, with another juror present. (The rest had already headed home for the day.)<\/p>\n
In short: the indictment is real, it\u2019s intact, and despite the wishful thinking in certain corners, it isn\u2019t going anywhere.<\/p>\n
If you want an even more thorough explainer on this, I highly recommend checking out Techno Fog\u2019s Substack on it, though it does require a subscription. But the long and short of it is, yes, there was a bit of an irregularity here, but it was as to form, not substance. And no, it shouldn\u2019t prove fatal to the indictment.<\/p>\n
Now, does that mean Judge Nachmanoff will see it that way? No. Nor does it guarantee the indictment will survive some of the other challenges raised against it. But for all the breathless proclamations that the grand jury never actually saw the indictment, and ZOMG! \u2014 folks should simmer down. They did. It just had an additional count in it that was subsequently removed because they didn\u2019t agree on that one. Nothing new or different was added. Something no longer pertinent was removed.<\/p>\n
If you want an even deeper dive into the details, Techno Fog has an excellent breakdown on Substack \u2014\u00a0though it requires a subscription. The gist, however, is straightforward: yes, there was a procedural hiccup, but it was an issue of form, not substance. And no, it\u2019s not the sort of thing that blows up an indictment.<\/p>\n
Of course, that doesn\u2019t mean Judge Nachmanoff is guaranteed to see it that way. Nor does it mean the indictment is immune to the other challenges Comey\u2019s defense team is throwing at it. But as for the breathless claims floating around that the grand jury \u201cnever even saw the indictment\u201d and all the dramatic ZOMG! hand-wringing \u2014 people need to calm down. The grand jury did see the indictment. It just originally contained an additional count they declined to endorse. That count was removed. Nothing new was slipped in; something they didn\u2019t approve was simply taken out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
o borrow a line from a fellow Missourian, reports of the Comey prosecution\u2019s death have been greatly exaggerated. Despite the media\u2019s best efforts to wish it away, former FBI Director … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4893,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2],"class_list":["post-4892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-breaking-news"],"yoast_head":"\n
Is James Comey About To Walk Free? Not So Fast - Joero Article<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/?p=4892\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is James Comey About To Walk Free? Not So Fast - Joero Article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"o borrow a line from a fellow Missourian, reports of the Comey prosecution\u2019s death have been greatly exaggerated. Despite the media\u2019s best efforts to wish it away, former FBI Director …\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/?p=4892\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Joero Article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-12T13:43:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/og-4892-rhbWYj.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sonie Fanie\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/og-4892-rhbWYj.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sonie Fanie\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thejoeroganpod.com\\\/?p=4892#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thejoeroganpod.com\\\/?p=4892\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sonie Fanie\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thejoeroganpod.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/38dac17a96717d2184978321e56f6087\"},\"headline\":\"Is James Comey About To Walk Free? Not So Fast\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-12T13:43:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thejoeroganpod.com\\\/?p=4892\"},\"wordCount\":889,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thejoeroganpod.com\\\/?p=4892#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thejoeroganpod.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/800781222_950895784728964_7286112008673032598_n.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Breaking news\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Trending\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/thejoeroganpod.com\\\/?p=4892#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thejoeroganpod.com\\\/?p=4892\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thejoeroganpod.com\\\/?p=4892\",\"name\":\"Is James Comey About To Walk Free? Not So Fast - Joero Article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thejoeroganpod.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thejoeroganpod.com\\\/?p=4892#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thejoeroganpod.com\\\/?p=4892#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thejoeroganpod.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/800781222_950895784728964_7286112008673032598_n.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-12T13:43:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thejoeroganpod.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/38dac17a96717d2184978321e56f6087\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thejoeroganpod.com\\\/?p=4892#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/thejoeroganpod.com\\\/?p=4892\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thejoeroganpod.com\\\/?p=4892#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thejoeroganpod.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/800781222_950895784728964_7286112008673032598_n.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thejoeroganpod.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/800781222_950895784728964_7286112008673032598_n.jpg\",\"width\":512,\"height\":640},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thejoeroganpod.com\\\/?p=4892#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thejoeroganpod.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Is James Comey About To Walk Free? Not So Fast\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thejoeroganpod.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thejoeroganpod.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Joero Article\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thejoeroganpod.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thejoeroganpod.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/38dac17a96717d2184978321e56f6087\",\"name\":\"Sonie Fanie\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5ba0bdcaf0a550669e6663bf48038e586b8b7404aefcb9407de646482ff2957d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5ba0bdcaf0a550669e6663bf48038e586b8b7404aefcb9407de646482ff2957d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5ba0bdcaf0a550669e6663bf48038e586b8b7404aefcb9407de646482ff2957d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sonie Fanie\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/thejoeroganpod.com\\\/?author=2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Is James Comey About To Walk Free? Not So Fast - Joero Article","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/?p=4892","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Is James Comey About To Walk Free? Not So Fast - Joero Article","og_description":"o borrow a line from a fellow Missourian, reports of the Comey prosecution\u2019s death have been greatly exaggerated. Despite the media\u2019s best efforts to wish it away, former FBI Director …","og_url":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/?p=4892","og_site_name":"Joero Article","article_published_time":"2026-09-12T13:43:16+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/og-4892-rhbWYj.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Sonie Fanie","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/og-4892-rhbWYj.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sonie Fanie","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/?p=4892#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/?p=4892"},"author":{"name":"Sonie Fanie","@id":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/38dac17a96717d2184978321e56f6087"},"headline":"Is James Comey About To Walk Free? Not So Fast","datePublished":"2026-09-12T13:43:16+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/?p=4892"},"wordCount":889,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/?p=4892#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/800781222_950895784728964_7286112008673032598_n.jpg","keywords":["Breaking news"],"articleSection":["Trending"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/?p=4892#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/?p=4892","url":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/?p=4892","name":"Is James Comey About To Walk Free? Not So Fast - Joero Article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/?p=4892#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/?p=4892#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/800781222_950895784728964_7286112008673032598_n.jpg","datePublished":"2026-09-12T13:43:16+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/38dac17a96717d2184978321e56f6087"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/?p=4892#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/?p=4892"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/?p=4892#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/800781222_950895784728964_7286112008673032598_n.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/800781222_950895784728964_7286112008673032598_n.jpg","width":512,"height":640},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/?p=4892#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Is James Comey About To Walk Free? Not So Fast"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/","name":"Joero Article","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/38dac17a96717d2184978321e56f6087","name":"Sonie Fanie","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ba0bdcaf0a550669e6663bf48038e586b8b7404aefcb9407de646482ff2957d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ba0bdcaf0a550669e6663bf48038e586b8b7404aefcb9407de646482ff2957d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ba0bdcaf0a550669e6663bf48038e586b8b7404aefcb9407de646482ff2957d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Sonie Fanie"},"url":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/?author=2"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4892"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4894,"href":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4892\/revisions\/4894"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}