{"id":50618,"date":"2025-11-24T18:29:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T18:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/50618\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T18:29:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T18:29:08","slug":"judge-dismisses-cases-against-ex-fbi-director-james-comey-ny-ag-tish-james","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/50618\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge dismisses cases against ex-FBI Director James Comey, NY AG Tish James"},"content":{"rendered":"

A federal judge dismissed the criminal cases against\u00a0former<\/a> FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James Monday, finding that interim US Attorney Lindsey Halligan was improperly appointed to her position\u00a0and \u201chad no lawful authority\u201d to secure indictments of either of President Trump\u2019s longtime enemies.<\/p>\n

Attorneys for both Comey and James had argued that Halligan had to be confirmed by the Senate after Attorney General Pam Bondi used up her allotted 120-day interim appointment on Erik Siebert, who resigned\u00a0Sept. 19\u00a0after President Trump publicly criticized him for not bringing charges against the former head of the FBI.<\/p>\n

Criminal cases against ex-FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James were tossed Monday. Getty Images<\/p>\n

It was found that interim US Attorney Lindsey Halligan was improperly appointed to her position. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Both indictments were dismissed without prejudice, which typically means that the cases can be brought again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, the ruling by\u00a0senior US District Judge Cameron Currie comes after the expiration of the five-year statute of limitations against Comey, meaning the case against him cannot be reopened.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am heartened by today\u2019s victory and grateful for the prayers and support I have received from around the country,\u201d James, who faced up to 60 years in prison on charges of bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI remain fearless in the face of these baseless charges as I continue fighting for New Yorkers every single day.\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n

New York Attorney General Letitia James addresses reporters outside the Walter E. Hoffman United States Courthouse in Norfolk, Virginia, on October 24, 2025. Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York Post<\/p>\n

Currie, a former South Carolina federal judge appointed to the bench by President Bill Clinton, heard arguments in the case Nov. 13 and indicated she was sympathetic to the defendants.<\/p>\n

James\u2019 defense attorney Abbe Lowell argued that the government\u2019s position on appointments would give the Trump administration the \u201cperpetual ability\u201d to appoint prosecutors without the Senate having to fulfill its \u201cadvise and consent\u201d function.<\/p>\n

Under that theory, \u201ceven a person like Steve Bannon or Elon Musk\u201d could have overseen the grand jury proceedings against Comey and James as Halligan did, Lowell contended.<\/p>\n

US Attorney Lindsey Halligan with President Trump at the US Open in September. GC Images<\/p>\n

At one point in the hearing, Judge Currie asked prosecutor\u00a0Henry Whitaker whether a Florida judge had erred in dismissing a case against Trump on charges of hoarding national security documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort \u2014 on the grounds that then-special counsel Jack Smith was unconstitutionally appointed by then-US Attorney General Merrick Garland.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you believe that US versus Trump was wrongly decided?\u201d Currie asked, to excited whispers from some in the courtroom gallery.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Halligan, a former pageant queen, had also worked in the White House before her appointment as interim US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.<\/p>\n

Monday\u2019s\u00a0order will likely prompt an appeal process that could lead to three other prominent acting US attorneys \u2014 New Jersey\u2019s Alina Habba, Sigal Chattah of Nevada and Bill Essayli of Los Angeles\u00a0 \u2014 leaving their posts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

All three have been in the job for more than 120 days, and have not been confirmed.<\/p>\n

James, 67, was accused of buying a three-bedroom, one-bathroom home in Norfolk, Va. on Aug. 17, 2020, using a $109,600 loan.<\/p>\n

James allegedly said she would be the \u201csole borrower to occupy and use the property,\u201d when in reality her grandniece lived there and paid rent, the feds claimed.<\/p>\n

Comey, 64, was charged with lying to Congress and obstruction of justice for statements in a Sept. 30, 2020, Senate Judiciary Committee hearing about leaks to the press involving high-profile agency probes.<\/p>\n

Both Comey and James had pleaded not guilty and claimed they have been targeted by Trump because of their past investigations into him.<\/p>\n

Lawyers for Comey didn\u2019t immediately return requests for comment Monday. A spokesperson for Halligan\u2019s office also did not respond to a request for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is a developing story, refresh for updates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A federal judge dismissed the criminal cases against\u00a0former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50619,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[5970,2842,398,9,11,10,87,58],"class_list":{"0":"post-50618","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-fbi","9":"tag-james-comey","10":"tag-letitia-james","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-headlines","13":"tag-new-york-news","14":"tag-politics","15":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50618","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=50618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}