Judge dismisses James Comey and Letitia James indictments over ‘unlawful’ prosecutor appointment

A federal judge in eastern Virginia on Monday dismissed criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, ruling that Lindsey Halligan, the interim U.S. attorney who brought both indictments, was invalidly appointed.

Senior U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie ruled in both cases that Halligan, President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, had been installed as interim federal prosecutor in violation of the Appointments Clause of the Constitution.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/24/trump-comey-james-indictments-halligan.html

 

KInd if disappointing, actually. Not the these grounds for dismissal weren't solid. But there were so many other grounds. Like vindictive prosecution, or just that the evidence was so weak as to be laughable.

Well, we can all enjoy the spectacle of Trump exploding.

 

Still, we may get a chance to see the DOJ shooting itself in the foot again. According to Federal rules, the govt has about six months from the date of the original statute of limitations expiration date to attempt to re-indict.

Just as I said a few weeks back, Comey and James won't see trial.........😉

Good.

From Judge Currie's ruling and order same for both James and Comey:

 

For the reasons set forth above, it is hereby ORDERED AND ADJUDGED as follows: 

 

3. The Attorney General’s attempts to ratify Ms. Halligan’s actions were ineffective and are hereby set aside.

 

7. The power to appoint an interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 546 during the current vacancy lies with the district court until a U.S. Attorney is nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate under 28 U.S.C. § 541. 

nice try ...

It was a weak case against Comey from the beginning.  

17 minutes ago, sharot724 said:

nice try ...

The caption read: You haven't seen the swimsuit results

4 hours ago, CANSIAM said:

Just as I said a few weeks back, Comey and James won't see trial.........😉

As noted above, they still could. At least, I'm betting that the DOJ will try again to indict them.

30 minutes ago, sqwakvfr said:

It was a weak case against Comey from the beginning.  

That's why i would have preferred it to go further. 

Happy with the result though.

3 minutes ago, Alan Zweibel said:

As noted above, they still could. At least, I'm betting that the DOJ will try again to indict them.

I think statute of limitations has passed for comey. Maybe an appeal could reinstate the previous indictment though.

4 hours ago, CANSIAM said:

Just as I said a few weeks back, Comey and James won't see trial.........😉

Actually, I got it somewhat wrong. If the indictments were found to be invalid, then the government can't try again. There's a typically excellent discussion of this by Andrew McCarthy, whose politics, by the way, are very right wing. Despite which, as an experienced federal prosecutor, he has repeatedly pointed out glaring weaknesses in the DOJ's case. Here's a link:  https://archive.ph/8Pap8

37 minutes ago, stevenl said:

That's why i would have preferred it to go further. 

Happy with the result though.

According to McCarthy, the motions still pending can ultimately put the kibosh on the government's case.

3 hours ago, jerrymahoney said:

3. The Attorney General’s attempts to ratify Ms. Halligan’s actions were ineffective and are hereby set aside.

I think this was the one that got under Judge Currie's skin. Per AG Bondi:

 

APPOINTMENT OF LINDSEY HALLIGAN AS SPECIAL ATTORNEY
TO CONDUCT LEGAL PROCEEDINGS IN THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA AND
RATIFICATION OF CERTAIN ACTIONS IN THAT DISTRICT

On September 22, 2025, I exercised the authority vested in the Attorney General by
28 U.S.C. § 546 to designate and appoint Lindsey Halligan as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. 

 

-- as in What authority?

Vindictiveness + Incompetence = Trump/MAGA

 

Having an AG who doesn't understand law and how to appoint a prosecutor is almost as scary as a crybaby, childish, demented clown having the nuclear codes.

 

Shocking what the primary focuses of this batsh!t crazy gaggle of Carnival People Administration has been:

 

Political retribution is the focus of DoJ (and FBI), rather than organized crime, Russian Mafia (living comfortably in Trump Tower), terrorism, serial killers, etc.

 

And let's not forget sending the US Military and National Guard to face down people dressed as rabbits entertaining al fresco diners in peaceful downtown Portland.

 

And this photo courtesy BBC -- can you spot the 2 phonies?

Expecting major tweet storms with flying crockery and condiments……some administration ehh??just pathetic 

As I stated elsewhere Trump's attempt at political revenge has failed spectacularly, and it is a great day for democracy and a terrible day for a wannabe dictator. So sorry Don but you are not the new king and you do not possess the power of a royal decree. I know that must come as a great disappointment but all of us have to face limitations in life. 

2 hours ago, jerrymahoney said:

On September 22, 2025, I (AG Bondi)exercised the authority vested in the Attorney General by 28 U.S.C. § 546 to designate and appoint Lindsey Halligan as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. 

And what Judge Currie said, in effect, to AG Bondi as to USC § 546 as in golfer's parlance:

 

§546 has no provision for mulligans.

 

And any appeal of this specific opinion would have to contend: Mulligans are OK.

There's talk of Trump impeaching judges who rule against his vindictive prosecutions.

 

Another step towards autocracy.

16 minutes ago, jerrymahoney said:

And what Judge Currie said, in effect, to AG Bondi as to USC § 546 as in golfer's parlance:

 

§546 has no provision for mulligans.

 

And any appeal of this specific opinion would have to contend: Mulligans are OK.

As McCarthy put it:

Bondi’s Retroactive Ratification of Her Retroactive Ratification of the Comey Grand Jury Presentation

https://archive.ph/Cfodx

3 minutes ago, Old Croc said:

There's talk of Trump impeaching judges who rule against his vindictive prosecutions.

 

Another step towards autocracy.

As with Presidential impeachment, majority vote in the House and then 2/3 vote in the Senate.

Without prejudice, pending appeal. Got it.

 

As a former member of the ASCDL, I can tell you I bet Abee is salivating. Bet hes at $3000 per hour.

If this were  a DoJ appeal of vindictive prosecution or grand jury errors that are judgment calls that would be one thing.

 

But this decision is only on the appointment of Ms. Halligan after there already as a 120 day special appointment.

 

 

14 minutes ago, Yagoda said:

Without prejudice, pending appeal. Got it.

 

As a former member of the ASCDL, I can tell you I bet Abee is salivating. Bet hes at $3000 per hour.

I looked up ASCDL via Google and also Chatgpt. So, whether or not you are a member of the Afro-Asian Society for Cosmetic Dermatology and Laser, or the Associated Students Child Development Laboratory, or the Alaska Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory, or maybe just some secret society as yet undetected by search engines or AI, I can see you are well qualified to be commenting on this case.

Just now, Alan Zweibel said:

I looked up ASCDL via Google and also Chatgpt. So, whether or not you are a member of the Afro-Asian Society for Cosmetic Dermatology and Laser, or the Associated Students Child Development Laboratory, or the Alaska Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory, or maybe just some secret society as yet undetected by search engines or AI, I can see you are well qualified to be commenting on this case.

Using your brain rather than AI can help. I'm guessing Association of Southern California Defense Lawyers 🤔🤷😉

Democrat appointed judge. This will be appealed immidiately.

6 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

Democrat appointed judge. This will be appealed immidiately.

And unless there is some major misinterpretation of the law  by Judge Currie, the 4th Circuit is not obligated to accept the appeal.

1 minute ago, dinsdale said:

Democrat appointed judge. This will be appealed immidiately.

As I've pointed out, andrew mccarthy, a former federal prosecuutor, who is extremely right wing, actually predicted what would happen based on the merits or rather lack of merits of the case. And now Jonathan Turley who has been a consistent defender of Trump wrote this:

“Everything about this indictment seems to be rather rushed into – and improvisational,” Turley said. “When the Comey indictment came down, I noted that it seemed sort of disjunctive. They took out this count and the other two counts did not exactly fit neatly together and you got a sense of how quickly they had to get this through and that, I think, sat badly with this judge.”

https://www.aol.com/news/jonathan-turley-says-james-comey-190627839.html

 

In fact, we know that the Justice dept considers Halligans appointment to be legally unsound since Bondi later tried to appoint her as a Special Attorney, or, as McCarthy put it

Bondi’s Retroactive Ratificiation of Her Retroactive Ratification of the Comey Grand Jury Presentation

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/bondis-retroactive-ratificiation-of-her-retroactive-ratification-of-the-comey-grand-jury-presentation/

Please continue in the topic now running in the World News:

 

 

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