A federal judge said Monday that potential government misconduct and investigative missteps could be grounds for dismissal of the criminal case against former FBI chief James Comey, a prominent foe of President Donald Trump.Comey, 64, is one of three vocal Trump critics indicted recently in what has been widely seen as a campaign of retribution against the president’s political opponents.Comey has pleaded not guilty to charges of making false statements to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding.Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick, in a blistering 24-page opinion, ordered prosecutors in an extraordinary move to hand over grand jury materials in the case against Comey to his defense team.”The Court recognizes that the relief sought by the defense is rarely granted,” Fitzpatrick said.”However, the record points to a disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps, missteps that led an FBI agent and a prosecutor to potentially undermine the integrity of the grand jury proceeding.”The judge said the US district attorney who brought the case against Comey — a prosecutor handpicked by Trump — had made “fundamental misstatements of the law that could compromise the integrity of the grand jury process.””Irregularities that occurred before the grand jury, and the manner in which evidence presented to the grand jury was collected and used, may rise to the level of government misconduct resulting in prejudice to Mr Comey,” he said.Grounds may exist to dismiss the indictment because of the handling of grand jury proceedings by the prosecution, the judge said.- ‘Vindictive’ -Comey has filed a separate motion seeking to have the charges thrown out on the grounds they are motivated by the “personal spite” of Trump and constitute a “vindictive and selective prosecution.”New York Attorney General Letitia James, who has also been indicted by the Trump Justice Department, has sought to have her case tossed on the same basis.James, who successfully prosecuted Trump for business fraud, has been indicted in Virginia on one count of bank fraud and a second count of making false statements to a financial institution.Another Trump critic, his former national security advisor John Bolton, has been indicted on 18 counts of transmitting and retaining classified information.Comey was appointed to head the FBI by then-president Barack Obama in 2013 and was fired by Trump in 2017.The charges against Comey came days after Trump publicly urged Attorney General Pam Bondi to take action against the former FBI director and others he sees as enemies — a stunning departure from the principle that the Justice Department must be free from White House pressure.The 79-year-old Trump — the first convicted felon to serve as US president — hailed the indictment, calling Comey “one of the worst human beings this country has ever been exposed to.”Since taking office in January, Trump has taken a number of punitive measures against perceived enemies, purging government officials he deemed to be disloyal, targeting law firms involved in past cases against him and pulling federal funding from universities.

President Donald Trump said Monday he will talk to Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro as Washington’s military buildup stokes tensions, and added that he would be “OK” with US anti-drug strikes inside Mexico. Trump has dramatically increased the number of US forces in the Caribbean to tackle what he calls drug traffickers based in a number of Latin American countries including Venezuela and Mexico.”At a certain period of time, I’ll be talking to him,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked if he would speak to Maduro, while adding that the Venezuelan president “has not been good to the United States.”Asked if he would rule out US troops on the ground in Venezuela, Trump replied: “No I don’t rule out that, I don’t rule out anything.”We just have to take care of Venezuela,” he added. “They dumped hundreds of thousands of people into our country from prisons.”Venezuela has accused Washington of seeking regime change in Caracas with its military build-up including an aircraft carrier group, warships and several stealth jets.Washington accuses of Maduro of leading a “terrorist” drug cartel, a charge he denies.But Trump has also accused Mexico of failing to tackle drug trafficking groups, and stepped up his rhetoric towards the United States’s southern neighbor.”Would I launch strikes in Mexico to stop drugs? It’s OK with me. Whatever we have to do to stop drugs,” Trump said when asked by reporters at the White House whether he would sanction a US counter-drug operation in Mexico.”I didn’t say I’m doing it, but I’d be proud to do it. Because we’re going to save millions of lives by doing it.”

Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement is showing the first signs of turning on its creator. Could it be a Frankenstein moment for the US president?During the course of one frenetic weekend, Trump disowned former MAGA cheerleader Marjorie Taylor Greene and performed a screeching U-turn on the Jeffrey Epstein files.Trump’s meltdown underscores the cracks that have opened in between the right-wing movement and the billionaire founder who has for years ruled it with an iron fist.The turmoil has also punctured the aura of invincibility that Trump and the White House have sought to cultivate since his return to power — raising questions about whether Trump has created a Frankenstein-like monster he can no longer control.”MAGA was my idea,” he protested in an interview with Fox News last week — itself notable as normally pro-Trump host Laura Ingraham confronted him on whether visas for foreign students were “pro-MAGA.””I know what MAGA wants better than anybody else.” – ‘Not America First’ -Not long ago, Marjorie Taylor Greene was perhaps Trump’s biggest booster.As recently as March, the Republican firebrand from Georgia was pictured sporting a red a “Trump Was Right About Everything” baseball cap as the president addressed Congress.But fast forward eight months, and Trump raged that he was no longer backing his once diehard supporter, dubbing her “Marjorie Traitor Greene.” The split came after Greene distanced herself on a host of issues that she shares with other discontented MAGA faithful: affordability, healthcare, Israel, visas for foreign workers and students, and Trump’s focus on foreign policy.Greene hit back, saying on Sunday that Trump’s words had “put my life in danger” and insisting that “I remain America First and America Only!!!”She also highlighted another key issue. “Unfortunately, it has all come down to the Epstein files, and that is shocking,” she told CNN.- ‘Nothing to hide’ -The scandal over the disgraced financier’s sexual abuse has become a seismic fault line for the MAGA movement.In an astonishing reversal on Sunday, Trump suddenly called on Republicans to support a vote in the US House to release files from the investigation into Epstein, saying “we have nothing to hide.” He had previously called on rebels like Greene and fellow MAGA lawmaker Lauren Boebert not to fall into the “trap” of voting for it.Far from any change of heart, however, Trump’s turnaround appeared to be a way of avoiding what would have been the biggest political defeat of his second term so far.Yet the pressure from the issue — which distracted from Trump’s victory lap in ending a record US government shutdown — is unlikely to go away. Anger had already been brewing in the MAGA ranks for months.Conspiracy-minded MAGA faithful were long told by Trump’s supporters that the scandal was a Democratic cover-up — only for Trump’s Justice Department to say in July that effectively there was nothing new in the files.- 2028 looms -Rumbles of MAGA discontent have been growing on other subjects too. The loudest complaints came after Republicans were hammered on the cost of living in off-year elections earlier this month.Sensing trouble, Trump has responded by planning a series of speeches about the economy, including one to a summit hosted by fast food giant McDonald’s on Monday.MAGA ranks have also been split over US media star Tucker Carlson interviewing open white nationalist Nick Fuentes. Key right-wingers were outraged — even as Trump insisted on Sunday that “you can’t tell him who to interview.”While Trump still commands fierce loyalty among many supporters, the splits are only likely to deepen as he enters the lame duck phase of his final term.Eyes are already turning to 2028 — and the battle to be Trump’s true MAGA political heir.Trump’s vice president JD Vance is widely considered the frontrunner, but is viewed in parts of the US right as insufficiently committed to the movement.Could it leave an opportunity for Greene? She has denied any thought of a presidential run — but stranger things have happened in US politics.