A federal judge has been randomly assigned to oversee the case against fired FBI Director James Comey following his indictment on charges related to a May 2025 social media post.
Prior to her appointment to the bench, Flanagan served as a federal magistrate judge and worked at the Washington, D.C
Judge Flanagan received the case assignment on Tuesday after a grand jury indicted Comey on allegations that he threatened the president through an Instagram post featuring a specific pattern. Flanagan has presided over thousands of cases since her Senate confirmation as a federal district court judge in July 2003. office of a major law firm before it merged with an international legal practice. Her extensive background in federal litigation spans more than two decades. Investigation Details Prosecutors emphasized the scope of their investigation extended well beyond the social media post itself. “Every case requires an investigation, and what you just showed is one part of that investigation,” a representative of the investigation said. “Rest assured that career Assistant United States Attorneys, career FBI agents, and career Secret Service agents didn’t just look at the Instagram post and walk away.”
The indictment came months after the May post, reflecting the time required for a thorough grand jury review
Officials stressed that multiple investigative threads supported the charges. Additional Charges Federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia have reopened a separate investigation into whether Comey illegally disclosed classified information to a media contact, according to two people familiar with the matter. The probe focuses on Comey’s transmission of sensitive memos documenting private conversations with former President Donald Trump to a Columbia University law professor, who subsequently provided the material to a major newspaper. The 2017 disclosures resulted in news coverage that influenced the early narrative during Trump’s first term. Active meetings between prosecutors’ offices have occurred in recent weeks to discuss potential charges.
The department has not yet determined whether to file charges in Virginia, where Comey resides, or another jurisdiction. Timing for any decision remains unclear
Legal Precedent The renewed investigation reflects broader pressure within the Trump Justice Department to revisit matters the president has previously characterized as examples of politicized conduct. The timing creates a significant legal issue regarding classification standards. Previous appellate rulings in separate cases established that classification determinations made by the executive branch’s national security apparatus are binding in judicial proceedings. That same legal standard now applies to the materials at the center of the Comey investigation.
This story has been updated. CNN’s reporting team contributed to this report
