{"id":45400,"date":"2025-11-19T22:50:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T22:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/45400\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T22:50:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T22:50:14","slug":"james-comey-indictment-wasnt-seen-by-full-grand-jury-trumps-handpicked-prosecutor-lindsey-halligan-shockingly-admits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/45400\/","title":{"rendered":"James Comey indictment wasn’t seen by full grand jury, Trump’s handpicked prosecutor Lindsey Halligan shockingly admits"},"content":{"rendered":"

ALEXANDRIA, Va. \u2014 Lindsey Halligan, the interim US attorney who secured the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey<\/a>, admitted to the trial judge Wednesday that the full grand jury never saw the final version of the charges against the former top lawman.<\/p>\n

The shocking revelation, in one expert\u2019s words, suggests Halligan may have \u201cbotched\u201d the case \u201cin a way she may not be able to recover from.\u201d<\/p>\n

Halligan, 36, told US District Judge Michael Nachmanoff that \u201cthe foreperson and another grand juror was also present\u201d when she presented a revised version of the indictment that dropped one count the 23-person panel could not agree on.<\/p>\n

Another prosecutor, Tyler Lemons, insisted the revision meant \u201cthere was not a new indictment,\u201d but only small changes made.<\/p>\n

Ex-FBI boss James Comey was in court while his lawyers argued the indictment against him should be tossed out on the grounds of selective prosecution. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Grand jurors were initially presented with a bill accusing Comey, 64, of two counts of making false statements to Congress<\/a> and one count of obstruction of justice. However, one of the false statement counts failed to get majority buy-in from the panelists, resulting in the two-count indictment being handed up.<\/p>\n

When pressed further by Nachmanoff, Lemons also admitted the full panel never saw the two-count\u00a0version.<\/p>\n

In response, defense attorney Michael Dreeben called for the case to be thrown out, claiming the indictment had not been properly secured before the expiration of the five-year statute of limitations Sept. 30.<\/p>\n

The charges against Comey stem from his claim to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 30, 2020, that he never authorized leaks about high-profile FBI investigations to the press.<\/p>\n

He is slated to go on trial on Jan. 5, 2026, but has sought to get the case tossed out on multiple grounds, claiming both vindictive prosecution and the unlawful appointment of Halligan.<\/a><\/p>\n

Follow The Post\u2019s live coverage of President Trump and national politics for the latest news and analysis<\/a><\/p>\n

Lindsey Halligan admitted Wednesday that the full grand jury never saw the final charges presented against Comey. AP<\/p>\n

Earlier during Wednesday\u2019s hour-and-a-half hearing, Dreeben claimed that there was a clear \u201cpattern\u201d of Comey speaking out against the president, followed by fiery \u201cretaliatory\u201d social media responses by Trump.<\/p>\n

On Sept. 20, 2025, Trump posted on Truth Social that Comey was \u201cguilty as hell\u201d and \u201cJUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!\u201d \u2014 further evidence that the former FBI director was unlawfully targeted by the Trump administration, Dreeben argued.<\/p>\n

Dreeben also highlighted media reports that Halligan\u2019s predecessor as interim US Attorney, Erik Siebert, wrote a memo declining to bring charges against Comey.<\/p>\n

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Halligan,\u00a0a former beauty queen and insurance lawyer,\u00a0was appointed by US Attorney General Pam Bondi at Trump\u2019s behest after Siebert resigned as the interim US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia<\/a> after the president accused him of deliberately refusing to charge Comey and another of Trump\u2019s political enemies, New York Attorney General Letitia James.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is effectively an admission that this is a political prosecution,\u201d Dreeben said of Siebert\u2019s memo.\u201dWe have never before seen in this country a blatant use of criminal justice to achieve political ends,\u201d the attorney concluded. \u201cThis has to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

Comey is charged with lying to Congress when he claimed he didn\u2019t authorize leaks to the press about an FBI probe. AP<\/p>\n

But prosecutor Lemons responded that Comey wasn\u2019t being prosecuted for his criticisms of Trump but rather for his comments to Congress. Lemons also denied that Halligan was a \u201cpuppet\u201d of the White House, insisting she independently decided to prosecute Comey.<\/p>\n

\u201cMs. Halligan was not directed to seek this prosecution. It was her decision and her decision only,\u201d Lemons said. \u201cMs. Halligan was not a puppet. \u2026 She made independent decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

As to the Siebert memo, Lemons admitted under questioning by Nachmanoff that he was \u201caware of a written correspondence\u201d and \u201cdraft memorandums [sic],\u201d but US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche had instructed him not to divulge any privileged information.<\/p>\n

Toward the end of the hearing, Nachmanoff pressed Lemons about the fact that Halligan was installed to the post on Sept. 22 and had already secured the Comey indictment just three days later.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat independent evaluation [of the case] could she have done in that time period?\u201d asked the judge, before indicating that he would rule at a later date.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Comey is scheduled to go on trial on Jan. 5. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani called the grand jury debacle \u201camateur hour\u201d by the US Attorney\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

He explained that 12 of 23 grand jurors are needed to agree on charges to return an indictment and the deliberation process is typically no longer than five minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the grand jurors didn\u2019t see the correct indictment and they left the jury room, you can\u2019t assign your voting rights to a proxy,\u201d Rahmani said. \u201cThat\u2019s not how it works. They all have to be present, they all have to review the indictment and they all have to agree there is probable cause.\u201d<\/p>\n

While prosecutors would typically convene a new grand jury and get a fresh indictment to replace a problematic one, Rahmani said, the statute of limitations makes that move impossible in the Comey case.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis never happens. An experienced prosecutor would not find themselves in this situation,\u201d Rahmani said. \u201cThere is a chance that [Halligan] botched this in a way she may not be able to recover from.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following Comey\u2019s indictment Sept. 25, Rahmani said he\u2019d personally secured indictments against roughly 100 people and he\u2019d \u201cnever\u201d seen a grand jury not return an indictment on all counts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have never dealt with this situation ever in my entire life,\u201d he explained. \u201cThey say a grand jury will indict a ham sandwich.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a one-sided presentation of the evidence. You just need a slight majority to not get an indictment. This is very, very, very rare.\u201d<\/p>\n

Comey scored a major win in the case Monday when Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick ordered Halligan\u2019s office to turn over their grand jury materials to Comey, finding evidence of \u201ca disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps, missteps that \u2026 potentially undermine the integrity of the grand jury proceeding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nachmanoff paused Fitzpatrick\u2019s order until he could complete a review of the feds\u2019 arguments seeking to overturn Fitzpatrick\u2019s ruling.<\/p>\n

Both Comey and James \u2014 who is charged with bank fraud \u2014 claim Bondi used up her one-time 120-day temporary appointment on Siebert and therefore, Halligan\u00a0is unlawfully in the position<\/a>\u00a0without the consent of Congress.<\/p>\n

Halligan\u2019s office claims the AG has the power to use multiple 120-day appointments.<\/p>\n

Comey and James have both pleaded not guilty to the charges and claim they were targeted by the 47th president in retaliation\u00a0for\u00a0being outspoken critics of him.<\/p>\n

James is accused of lying on mortgage papers claiming she would be the primary resident of a second home she bought in 2020 in Norfolk, Va. Instead, the feds say, she allowed her grandniece to move in and collected rent from her.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALEXANDRIA, Va. \u2014 Lindsey Halligan, the interim US attorney who secured the indictment of former FBI Director James…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45401,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[858,419,2842,1082,9,11,10,87,58,418],"class_list":{"0":"post-45400","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-congress","9":"tag-courts","10":"tag-james-comey","11":"tag-justice-department","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-headlines","14":"tag-new-york-news","15":"tag-politics","16":"tag-us-news","17":"tag-virginia"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45400\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}