WASHINGTON (TNND) — A federal judge has dismissed indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie determined Lindsey Halligan‘s appointment as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia was illegal. Currie said Halligan’s appointment violated laws that limit the Justice Department’s ability to install top prosecutors without the Senate confirmation process.
All actions flowing from Ms. Halligan’s defective appointment were unlawful exercises of executive power and are hereby set aside,” Currie wrote in the opinions issued Monday on both cases.
The orders make Halligan the latest Trump administration prosecutor to be disqualified because of the way they were appointed.
Both Comey and James’ attorneys had asked for the cases to be dismissed with prejudice. That means the DOJ would not be allowed to bring them again.
However, Currie dismissed both cases without prejudice, meaning that should the DOJ choose to, they could revive the prosecutions.
The Trump administration named Halligan, a former White House aide, to the job in September after former interim U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert was forced out amid pressure to file charges against Comey and James.
After Siebert’s resignation, Comey’s lawyers argued that judges of the federal court district should “have exclusive say” over who got to fill the spot.
However, Trump nominated Halligan in a Truth Social post, writing, “Lindsey is a tough, smart, and loyal attorney, who has worked with me for a long time, including in the winning fight against the Weaponization of our Justice System by Crooked Joe Biden and the Radical Left Democrats, which she witnessed firsthand when she stood up for my rights during the Unconstitutional and UnAmerican raid on my home, Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida.”
Last week, Halligan said that the full grand jury did not review the final indictment of Comey. However, on Thursday, Halligan reversed course and said the full panel did vet the charges.
Comey was indicted in September on two counts of making false statements and obstruction of justice. Allegations against Comey involve claims of lying to Congress during 2020 testimony about FBI investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
James was indicted in October by a federal grand jury on one count of bank fraud following a mortgage fraud investigation. James denied any wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty in the case.
Judges have previously disqualified interim U.S. Attorneys in New York, Los Angeles and Nevada. However, cases brought under their tenure were allowed to move forward/
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.