Judge Assigned to Fired FBI Director James Comey’s Case
A federal judge has been assigned to preside over the case of fired FBI Director James Comey.
In late May, the U.S. Department of Justice issued new charges against Comey.
U.S. District Judge Louise W. Flanagan of the Eastern District of North Carolina has set Oct. 21 as a trial date in Comey’s case.
A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of North Carolina indicted Comey in April, alleging that the seashell image was “a serious expression of an intent to do harm to the President of the United States.”
Restaurant veterans have said “86” is “everyday lingo” that can mean an item has run out or should be removed from the menu.
The trial was to have been held in July, but the schedule was pushed back after Comey’s team last week asked for more time, saying some of their arguments “may require extensive briefing.”
Comey and his team plan to file motions to dismiss the case based on arguments including that it is a product of vindictive and selective prosecution. Flanagan referenced Comey’s plans in her order Tuesday.
If the case survives expected motions to dismiss, Comey would appear for an arraignment on Sept. 30 at the federal courthouse in New Bern, North Carolina.
Judge Flanagan, appointed by George W. Bush, is considered right-leaning, according to Ballotpedia.
Flanagan received a random case assignment after a grand jury indicted Comey on charges alleging that he threatened Trump by posting a photo on Instagram that featured seashells arranged in an “86 47” pattern in May 2024.
She has presided over thousands of cases throughout her tenure as an Article III judge. The U.S. Senate confirmed her as a federal district court judge in July 2003.
Before this, she served as a federal magistrate judge and worked at the law firm Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal in Washington, D.C., before it merged with Dentons, the ABA Journal reports.
In an interview last weekend, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche made it clear that Comey’s indictment was the result of a year-long investigation and had much more to it than his seashells photo posted to Instagram.
“Every case requires an investigation, and what you just showed is one part of that investigation. What you just showed is the Instagram post,” he told Fox News.
“Rest assured that the career Assistant United States Attorneys in North Carolina, the career FBI agents, the career Secret Service agents that investigated this case didn’t just look at the Instagram post and walk away,” he continued.
“That’s why you saw an indictment last week, notwithstanding the fact that it was last May that the post was made. So I am not permitted to get into details of what the grand jury heard or found, as you know, but rest assured that it’s not just the Instagram post that leads somebody to get indicted,” Blanche added.
Meanwhile, federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia have revived a dormant investigation into whether Comey illegally leaked classified information to a trusted media cutout, two people familiar with the matter said, creating a third active criminal front against the longtime Trump antagonist.
The case centers on Comey’s decision to hand over sensitive memos documenting his private conversations with then-President Donald Trump to Columbia University Law Professor Daniel Richman, who then fed the material to The New York Times.
The disclosures formed the basis of a May 2017 front-page story that fueled the Russia collusion narrative early in Trump’s first term.
The probe, if it results in charges, would mark the Trump Justice Department’s third indictment of Comey since last fall — on top of a Florida review of a broader conspiracy case and a fresh North Carolina grand-jury indictment returned April 28 for an alleged social-media threat against the president.
This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Maxine Waters Gets Huge Dose Of Her Own Medicine After Making Snide Remark About Speaker Candidate Jim Jordan O
THE FLOOR WAR: Maxine Waters Drowned Out in Capitol Shouting Match After Branding Jim Jordan an 'Insurrectionist'
WASHINGTON, D.C. — JUNE 21, 2026 — The legislative machinery of the United States Capitol has collapsed into an absolute state of raw, chaotic friction, as a high-stakes floor debate over the vacant Speaker's chair triggered an explosive, shouting showdown that completely paralyzed standard House decorum.
What happens when a senior progressive firebrand shatters chamber protocol to target a powerful committee chairman on live television, only to face immediate, deafening retaliation from the majority? For an already fractured legislature, the answer is an immediate, high-velocity institutional explosion. Representative Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) was forcefully shouted down by House members on Tuesday after she openly labeled Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) an “insurrectionist” during a tense debate over the selection of the next Speaker of the House.
The confrontation detonated at the exact moment Jordan faced a difficult, high-threshold first ballot to secure the speaker's gavel. Waters initialed her floor time by voicing formal support for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, before pivoting with clinical aggression to direct her remarks squarely at Jordan. Republican members immediately swarmed the microphone perimeter, drowning out her comments with a massive wall of opposition shouts. Bypassing all diplomatic scripts, one unnamed Republican was heard yelling over the din: “Huh? What did the Communist say?”
I. THE 17-VOTE DEFICIT AND THE COALITION VETO
Jordan responded to the fierce floor ambush with a calculated smirk but completely declined to engage the California Democrat directly. However, the raw political data logged once the electronic ballot boxes closed confirmed an immediate mathematical roadblock for the conservative vanguard.
The statistical reality confirmed that Jordan fell exactly 17 votes short of the 217 needed to win on the first ballot. The institutional gridlock was tightly sealed when every single House Democrat voted in lockstep for Hakeem Jeffries, while several rebel Republicans stubbornly defected to cast their votes for alternative candidates.
Emerging from an intense, closed-door strategy huddle late Tuesday night, an unyielding Jordan told a swarm of reporters that the conservative conference would continue driving forward at true wartime speed without forming any type of coalition government with the minority:
“We’re gonna keep going. No one in our conference wants to see any type of coalition government with Democrats. So we’re going to keep working, and we’re going to get to the votes.” — Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan
II. THE MOMENTUM BLITZ: MALLIOTAKIS INTERVENES
While critics weaponize the initial ballot failure to paint the majority as deeply unstable, key faction leaders are mobilizing to reinforce Jordan’s defenses. Representative Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.) appeared on Fox News to inject an immediate shot of adrenaline into the conference, declaring that she will continue supporting Jordan and firmly believes a powerful momentum is actively building in his favor.
Blasting outside media analysts who are attempting to predict the downfall of the conservative ticket, Malliotakis issued an absolute, unvarnished ultimatum:
"Anyone claiming to know exactly what will happen next is full of it." — Rep. Nicole Malliotakis
The House is officially scheduled to reconvene at 11 a.m. ET Wednesday morning to unleash another high-velocity round of voting.
III. THE MCCARTHY REVENGE AND THE WAR RESOLUTION
The internal friction paralyzing the majority has drawn devastating, high-threshold elite blowback from traditional conservative publishing organs. The Wall Street Journal editorial board issued a blistering, front-page critique of the House Republican conference on Tuesday night. The editorial laid the absolute blame for the legislative meltdown squarely at the feet of the eight rebel members who originally removed former Speaker Kevin McCarthy—lambasting them for creating an absolute structural vacuum without possessing a clear plan or a viable alternative candidate.
[ THE STRATEGIC PRIORITY MATRIX ]
* IMMEDIATE TARGET: Secure the 217 Speaker Gavel Threshold
* FOREIGN ALLIANCE: Establish Maximum Security Resolution Supporting Israel
* OPERATIONS NODE: Joint Coordination with HFAC Chairman Michael McCaul
====================================================================
STATUS: Legislative drafting frozen until internal House gridlock is broken.
Despite the crossfire, Jordan has already mapped out his primary national security trajectory. He has stated that one of his immediate, prime priorities upon seizing the Speaker's gavel will be to deploy the full authority of the House to ensure Israel receives all necessary support in its war against Hamas. To bypass typical administrative lethality, Jordan confirmed he is already preparing to work directly with House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul and the Senate on a sweeping, unified resolution backing the Jewish state.
THE FINAL VERDICT
As the ticking clock races toward Wednesday's 11 a.m. showdown and the nation's premier legislative body remains completely paralyzed, the boundaries of congressional decorum have officially dissolved. The old-guard playbook of polite floor consensus has crashed against a wall of absolute partisan hostility.
