A judge says the Justice Department violated the constitutional rights of a close friend of James Comey and must return to him computer files that prosecutors had hoped to use for a potential criminal case.

President Donald Trump is pushing a bid to get the Senate to confirm Lindsey Halligan as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. In November, a federal judge ruled that her initial interim appointment as the district's top prosecutor was invalid.

Lindsey Halligan’s indictments against James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, and Letitia James, the attorney general of New York, were dismissed last month over Ms. Halligan’s appointment.

The facts “weigh in favor of entering a prompt, temporary order to preserve the status quo now, before the Government has filed a response,” it added.

The indictment against the former FBI chief was dismissed last month, but the Trump administration could file new charges.

Legal victories for former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James don't mean they're in the clear just yet.

Federal prosecutors are appealing an order blocking access to the communications of a close associate of James Comey, saying the move was a “strategic tool to obstruct” their case against the

The Justice Department has challenged a court order that complicated efforts to seek a new indictment against former FBI Director James Comey by making a trove of evidence off-limits to prosecutors.