Photo: Collected

WASHINGTON, United States, Dec 7, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - A US federal judge temporarily blocked the Justice Department on Saturday from using a trove of evidence to seek another indictment against former FBI director James Comey.

Since returning to power in January, President Donald Trump has urged the Justice Department to bring cases against Comey, 64, and a number of other perceived political opponents.

Comey, 64, was charged in September with making false statements to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding, but the case collapsed last month after a judge ruled that the prosecutor who brought the charges was unlawfully appointed.

And in a new development Saturday, District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly's four-page order barred the government until at least Friday from having access to communications between Comey and his close ally and former lawyer Daniel Richman.

This effectively prevents the Trump administration from using the same proof to seek new charges in the coming days.

The order backed a claim by Richman's attorneys that the US government had violated his Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches by "retaining a complete copy of all files on his personal computer".

Comey was appointed to head the FBI by former president Barack Obama in 2013, but fired by Trump in 2017 during a probe into whether his campaign had colluded with Russia to sway the 2016 presidential election.

A separate case against another Trump foe, New York Attorney General Letitia James, also ran aground over a ruling that the prosecutor was unlawfully appointed.