{"id":173068,"date":"2025-11-24T23:41:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T23:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/judge-dismisses-cases-against-james-comey-and-letitia-james-after-finding-prosecutor-was-unlawfully-appointed-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T23:41:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T23:41:10","slug":"judge-dismisses-cases-against-james-comey-and-letitia-james-after-finding-prosecutor-was-unlawfully-appointed-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/judge-dismisses-cases-against-james-comey-and-letitia-james-after-finding-prosecutor-was-unlawfully-appointed-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge dismisses cases against James Comey and Letitia James after finding prosecutor was unlawfully appointed – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A federal judge dismissed the criminal indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James on Monday, finding the prosecutor who brought the cases, <\/strong>former Trump attorney Lindsey Halligan, was not lawfully appointed.
U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie said that agreed with Comey, who moved to dismiss the case on the grounds that Halligan’s appointment was illegal.
“Because Ms. Halligan had no lawful authority to present the indictment, I will grant Mr. Comey\u2019s motion and dismiss the indictment,” Currie wrote<\/a> in finding that Halligan lacked the authority to present a case to a grand jury.
“All actions flowing from Ms. Halligan\u2019s defective appointment, including securing and signing Mr. Comey\u2019s indictment, were unlawful exercises of executive power and are hereby set aside,” the judge wrote, describing the insurance lawyer as “a former White House aide with no prior prosecutorial experience.”
She issued a separate, similar ruling<\/a> dismissing the James case.
\u201cThis case presents the unique, if not unprecedented, situation where an unconstitutionally appointed prosecutor, ‘exercising power [she] did not lawfully possess,\u2019\u2026 acted alone in conducting a grand jury proceeding and securing an indictment,\u201d the ruling said.
Because Halligan, who was appointed interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia at President Donald Trump’s direction, was the only prosecutor to present the cases and sign the indictments, the indictments should be voided, the judge found.
After the ruling, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters, “Lindsey Halligan was legally appointed, and that’s the administration’s position.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi reacted to the dismissal of the cases by saying the Justice Department intended to appeal the ruling. Bondi defended Halligan, saying she has been made a special U.S. attorney to allow her to fight in court.
“I talk to all of our U.S. attorneys, the majority of them around the country, and Lindsey Halligan is an excellent U.S. attorney. And shame on them for not wanting her in office,” Bondi said during a news conference in Memphis.
The U.S. attorney\u2019s office for the Eastern District of Virginia declined to comment. Halligan did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Comey, in a video on Instagram<\/a>, said, “I\u2019m grateful that the court ended the case against me, which was a prosecution based on malevolence and incompetence and a reflection of what the Department of Justice has become under Donald Trump, which is heartbreaking.”
\u201cThis case mattered to me personally, obviously, but it matters most because a message has to be sent that the president of the United States cannot use the Department of Justice to target his political enemies,\u201d he said.
“I know that Donald Trump will probably come after me again, and my attitude is going to be the same. I\u2019m innocent. I am not afraid, and I believe in an independent federal judiciary, the gift from our founders that protects us from a would-be tyrant,” he added.
Responding to Comey’s statement, Bondi told reporters that she was “not worried about someone who has been charged with a very serious crime,” adding that “his alleged actions were a betrayal of public trust.\u201d
James praised the judge’s ruling.
\u201cI am heartened by today\u2019s victory and grateful for the prayers and support I have received from around the country. I remain fearless in the face of these baseless charges as I continue fighting for New Yorkers every single day,\u201d she said in a statement.
Her attorney, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement that the judge’s order “acknowledges what\u2019s been clear about this case from the beginning. The President went to extreme measures to substitute one of his allies to bring these baseless charges after career prosecutors refused.”
“We will continue to challenge any further politically motivated charges through every lawful means available,\u201d Lowell said.
Both indictments were dismissed “without prejudice,” meaning they could be brought again later.
Comey attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said in a statement that his reading of the ruling suggests the case can’t be refiled because the five-year statute of limitations has expired since the indictment was brought.
Fitzgerald said the ruling “indicates that because the indictment is void, the statute of limitations has run and there can be no further indictment.”
The Justice Department has said in court papers that it believes the case could still move forward because of U.S. Code 3288. The federal statute says in part, \u201cWhenever an indictment or information charging a felony is dismissed for any reason after the period prescribed by the applicable statute of limitations has expired, a new indictment may be returned in the appropriate jurisdiction within six calendar months of the date of the dismissal of the indictment or information.\u201d
Comey’s attorneys have countered that the six-month grace period doesn’t apply in this case because Halligan didn’t have the power to bring an indictment to begin with, so all of her official actions are void \u2014 a prospect the judge expressly agreed with.
Comey and James have other motions pending before the judges presiding over their cases, contending the charges should be dismissed because they are the result of \u201cselective and vindictive\u201d prosecutions. Those motions seek to have the cases tossed “with prejudice,” meaning prosecutors couldn\u2019t revive them.
Carl Tobias, the Williams Chair in Law at the University of Richmond School of Law, told NBC News that Monday’s ruling would be difficult for the government to overcome.
\u201cI think the government will do whatever it can to overturn this, but I don\u2019t see how that\u2019s going to happen,\u201d he said.
The invalidation of Halligan\u2019s appointment was fatal to the Comey and James indictments because of the unique role Halligan played in the cases against two of Trump\u2019s political enemies, and it could have ripple effects on other cases that were handled under more typical processes.
Another high-profile defendant being prosecuted by Halligan’s office, Kabul airport bombing<\/a> suspect Mohammad Sharifullah, also filed a challenge to her appointment this month, charging she doesn’t have the authority to supervise or participate in his case. Sharifullah was indicted by Halligan\u2019s predecessor, and his motion is still pending<\/a>.
A ruling disqualifying Alina Habba <\/a>as the U.S. attorney in New Jersey has resulted in a number of criminal cases brought under her leadership being stuck in legal limbo while she appeals the decision.
Currie seemed largely skeptical of the Justice Department’s defense of Halligan at a rare joint hearing on the issue <\/a>with lawyers for Comey and James on Nov. 13, when a prosecutor portrayed questions about Halligan’s appointment as “a paperwork error.”
Comey’s attorney said it was much more than that and a “fatal flaw” in the prosecution of his client.
Comey was indicted on charges<\/a> of making a false statement to Congress and obstructing a congressional investigation, while James was indicted on charges<\/a> of bank fraud and making a false statement to a financial institution. Both pleaded not guilty.
In a highly unusual move, Halligan was the lone prosecutor to present their cases to the grand jury and the lone prosecutor to sign their indictments. Other prosecutors in her office had recommended against charging Comey and James because they didn’t believe there was enough evidence to secure convictions, NBC News previously reported.
Trump said he was naming Halligan U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia on Sept. 20 \u2014 the day after he forced out his initial pick, Erik Siebert, who resisted pressure to prosecute Comey and James.
Halligan’s appointment was immediately viewed as problematic because, according to federal statute, people in that post may serve for only 120 days after having been appointed U.S. attorney unless they are confirmed by the Senate before then.
The Senate had not confirmed Siebert, so federal judges of the Eastern District of Virginia exercised their independent appointment authority to keep him on beyond the 120-day limit.
Lawyers for Comey and James contended that after Siebert was forced out, the responsibility for naming his replacement belonged to the judges, not Attorney General Pam Bondi. To rule otherwise, Comey’s attorney said in a filing, would render the 120-day period “meaningless, and the Attorney General could indefinitely evade the alternate procedures that Congress mandated.”
The Justice Department maintained that Halligan’s appointment was valid since the office was vacant after Siebert’s departure. The “Senate has not refused advice and consent to Ms. Halligan \u2014 her nomination remains pending. The Attorney General therefore lawfully appointed Ms. Halligan as interim U.S. Attorney” and “the motions to dismiss should be denied,” the Justice Department said in a filing.
Trump’s Truth Social post naming Halligan to the position came the day after Siebert was forced out \u2014 and shortly after another social media post in which he publicly urged Bondi<\/a> to push ahead with prosecutions of Comey, James and another perceived political adversary, Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California<\/a>.
“Pam: I have reviewed over 30 statements and posts saying that, essentially, ‘same old story as last time, all talk, no action. Nothing is being done. What about Comey, Adam \u2018Shifty\u2019 Schiff, Leticia??? They\u2019re all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done,’\u201d said the post, which a source previously confirmed to NBC News<\/a> had been intended as a direct message to Bondi, not a public post.
“We can\u2019t delay any longer, it\u2019s killing our reputation and credibility,” Trump continued, while praising Halligan as “a really good lawyer.”
Five days after the post, Halligan, who had no prosecutorial experience, presented the Comey case to a grand jury. The presentation came days before a five-year statute of limitations on the charges was set to expire.
Currie, a Bill Clinton appointee who is based in South Carolina, heard the arguments on the disqualification issue instead of a judge from the Eastern District of Virginia since local judges would be involved in selecting Halligan’s replacement.
The Trump administration’s stance on the 120-day rule has led to U.S. attorneys in California and Nevada being disqualified, as well. The Justice Department is appealing those rulings.
Dareh Gregorian is a politics reporter for NBC News.
Gary Grumbach is an NBC News legal affairs reporter, based in Washington, D.C.
Ryan J. Reilly is a justice reporter for NBC News.
© 2025 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeA federal judge dismissed the criminal indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James on Monday, finding the prosecutor who brought the cases, former Trump attorney Lindsey Halligan, was not lawfully appointed.U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie said that agreed with Comey, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":173069,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-173068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}