ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A judge has dismissed the cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie dismissed the cases against Comey and James on Monday.
Comey and James had said Lindsey Halligan’s appointment as interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia was not done correctly, The Associated Press reported.
Halligan was appointed by Attorney General Pam Bondi at President Donald Trump’s urging days before Comey’s indictment was filed.
Currie agreed that Halligan’s appointment was not valid.
"As explained below, I agree with Mr. Comey that the Attorney General’s attempt to install Ms. Halligan as Interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia was invalid. And because Ms. Halligan had no lawful authority to present the indictment, I will grant Mr. Comey’s motion and dismiss the indictment without prejudice," Currie wrote in the opinion.
Read the entire opinion here or below:
Currie made a similar statement concerning the case against James.
“As explained below, I agree with Ms.James that the Attorney General’s attempt to install Ms. Halligan as Interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia was invalid. And because Ms. Halligan had no lawful authority to present the indictment, I will grant Ms. James’s motion and dismiss the indictment without prejudice,” Currie wrote in the decision.
Read the decision here or below:
Currie’s ruling does not prohibit the Justice Department from indicting them again by a prosecutor who had been lawfully appointed, The Washington Post reported.
The Justice Department is expected to appeal, the Post reported.
Trump has called for Comey to be prosecuted for years after the president fired the head of the FBI in 2017. Trump also accused James of wrongdoing when she won a multimillion-dollar civil fraud judgment against the then-former president last year. James had run as a Democrat for New York Attorney General, vowing to hold Trump responsible, the Post reported.
Trump-appointed Erik Siebert said there was not enough evidence to charge Comey or James, and declined to prosecute. Trump forced him from his role and pushed to have Halligan replace him. She was a former White House aide and one of Trump’s personal lawyers, but had no experience prosecuting cases. Still, within days of her appointment, she presented both cases to grand juries and got indictments.
The DOJ said that it had the authority to fill the vacant position with Trump’s choice despite Congress trying to put the brakes on appointments that did not go through the Senate approval process. Temporary appointments can be held for 120 days, while longer appointments are supposed to be confirmed by the upper house.
The DOJ said that the attorney general can make successive interim appointments.
But Comey’s and James’s attorneys noted that if a new U.S. attorney can be appointed every 120 days, there is no reason for a president to submit nominees to the Senate for confirmation, the Post reported.
Check back for more on this developing story.
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