"...because Ms. Halligan had no lawful authority to present the indictment, I will grant Mr. Comey’s motion and dismiss the indictment without prejudice."
A federal judge has tossed the Department of Justice’s case against former FBI Director James Comey. Judge Cameron McGowan Currie dismissed the case without prejudice, saying that Lindsey Halligan’s appointment as Interim US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia was "invalid." Currie also dismissed the indictment against New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Currie wrote, "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 made a similar ruling in the Letitia James case. James had been charged with bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution, while Comey had been charged with making false statements to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding.
Currie wrote that "All actions flowing from Ms. Halligan’s defective appointment, including securing and signing" the indictments against Comey and James, "were unlawful exercises of executive power and are hereby set aside." The cases being tossed "without prejudice" leave open the possibility that the cases could be brought against Comey and James again for the same conduct.
Halligan had been appointed in September to fill the seat left by former Interim US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Erik Siebert. Siebert had been filling in the seat left by Biden-era US attorney Jessica Aber, who left on Trump’s first day back in office. Siebert’s 120-day interim appointment had been set to expire on May 21, 2020, however, the judges of the district appointed Siebert to continue in his role.
Currie wrote that while the government argued the only limitation on the Attorney General’s authority to appoint interim US Attorneys was against those whom the Senate has refused to confirm, "Mr. Comey counters that section 546 'limits the total tenure of the Attorney General’s interim appointments to 120 days' and therefore 'precludes an additional appointment by the Attorney General after the expiration of that 120-day period.' Accordingly, he argues, Ms. Halligan’s appointment was unlawful because the district court possessed the 'exclusive authority to appoint an interim U.S. Attorney’ once Mr. Siebert’s appointment by the Attorney General expired on May 21. Mr. Comey has the better reading of the statute."
Letitia James wrote in response to the ruling, "I am heartened by today’s victory and grateful for the prayers and support I have received from around the country. I remain fearless in the face of these baseless charges as I continue fighting for New Yorkers every single day."
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