Is James Comey About To Walk Free? Not So Fast

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! — folks should simmer down. They did. It just had an additional count in it that was subsequently removed because they didn’t agree on that one. Nothing new or different was added. Something no longer pertinent was removed.

If you want an even deeper dive into the details, Techno Fog has an excellent breakdown on Substack — though 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’s not the sort of thing that blows up an indictment.

Of course, that doesn’t mean Judge Nachmanoff is guaranteed to see it that way. Nor does it mean the indictment is immune to the other challenges Comey’s defense team is throwing at it. But as for the breathless claims floating around that the grand jury “never even saw the indictment” and all the dramatic ZOMG! hand-wringing — 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’t approve was simply taken out.