A federal judge on Monday dismissed the Justice Department’s criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James after finding the acting U.S. attorney who obtained the indictments was unlawfully appointed.
U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie concluded that actions taken by Lindsey Halligan, who was serving as acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, were invalid because her appointment was defective. Currie said the indictments and other measures “flowing from Ms. Halligan’s defective appointment” were unlawful and set them aside. The judge dismissed the cases without prejudice, leaving open the possibility the Justice Department could try again.
The White House disputed the ruling. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt called Halligan “extremely qualified,” said the Justice Department will appeal, and criticized the decision as “unprecedented,” asserting that “everybody knows James Comey lied to Congress.”
Halligan had been installed by President Trump after he removed the prior top prosecutor, who had reportedly expressed doubts about pursuing charges in these matters. Halligan, a former insurance lawyer who had served as Trump’s personal lawyer and later as a White House aide, had no prior prosecutorial experience. She was sworn in as acting U.S. attorney on Sept. 22; three days later she obtained a two-count indictment against Comey, filed just days before the statute of limitations was set to expire. Comey pleaded not guilty.
In a social media video, Comey said he was “grateful that the court ended the case against me,” calling the prosecution the result of “malevolence and incompetence.” His attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald, argued that because the indictment was issued by someone without proper authority it is void and that the statute of limitations has now run, meaning the government cannot reindict.
Two weeks after the Comey indictment, Halligan presented a separate case charging New York Attorney General Letitia James with bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution. James has pleaded not guilty and said she remains “fearless in the face of these baseless charges.” Her lawyer, Abbe Lowell, characterized the move as political, saying the president substituted an ally to bring charges after career prosecutors declined to do so.
Court filings indicate Halligan was the only prosecutor who appeared before the grand juries in both matters. The prosecutions followed a social media post from President Trump urging legal action against Comey, James and Sen. Adam Schiff; Schiff has not been charged, though he is under federal investigation for alleged mortgage fraud.