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A federal judge threw out the indictments against James Comey and Letitia James on Monday, finding they were illegitimate because they were brought by an unqualified U.S. attorney.
Judge Cameron Currie dismissed the false statements charges against Comey and bank fraud charges against James without prejudice, meaning the charges could be brought again.
“I conclude that the Attorney General’s attempt to install Ms. [Lindsey] Halligan as Interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia was invalid and that Ms. Halligan has been unlawfully serving in that role since September 22, 2025,” Currie wrote.
The Department of Justice could appeal the decision or attempt to bring the charges under a different U.S. attorney. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News’ Martha MacCaullum the DOJ plans to appeal.
“We believe the attorney in this case, Lindsey Halligan, is not only extremely qualified for this position but she was in fact legally appointed,” Leavitt said. “And I know the Department of Justice will be appealing this in very short order.”
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The move to scrap two of the highest-profile criminal cases the DOJ has leveled against President Donald Trump’s political foes comes after the judge voiced skepticism at a recent hearing in Virginia about Halligan’s ability to bring the charges as interim U.S. attorney.
Currie, a Clinton appointee based in South Carolina, was brought in from out of state to preside over proceedings about the question of Halligan’s authority because it presented a conflict for the Virginia judges. Comey’s and James’ challenges to Halligan’s appointment were consolidated because of their similarity.
Halligan acted alone in presenting charges to the grand juries shortly after Trump ousted the prior interim U.S. attorney, Erik Siebert, and urged Attorney General Pam Bondi to replace him with Halligan, a former White House aide and insurance lawyer. Bondi complied, but Currie found the interim U.S. attorney term had already expired under Siebert and that the Virginia judges were now responsible for appointing a temporary U.S. attorney to serve until Trump could get one confirmed in the Senate.
Trump has been unable to persuade the Senate to confirm several U.S. attorneys in blue states, leading the president and Bondi to sidestep the upper chamber at times to install Trump’s preferred appointees, such as Halligan. Currie’s decision comes after federal judges also disqualified appointees in California, New Jersey and Nevada.
Trump had called on Bondi to act quickly to indict Comey and others, a call that came as the statutes of limitations in Comey’s case was about to lapse. Halligan, who had no prior prosecutorial experience when she took over one of the most high-profile federal court districts in the country, delivered for Trump within days. She was the lone lawyer to present the cases to the grand juries and sign the indictments. No prosecutors from Virginia joined in on either of the cases.
The DOJ has since put its full backing behind Halligan. Bondi attempted to ratify and then re-ratify the indictments after the fact, a move Currie suggested would not have been necessary if Halligan were a valid appointee.
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DOJ attorney Henry Whitaker argued during the hearing that the motions to dismiss Comey’s and James’ cases involved “at best a paperwork error,” unworthy of dismissing charges over.
James’ attorney Abbe Lowell said Halligan was a “private person” when she entered the grand jury rooms and completely unauthorized to be in them. Currie agreed, saying that retroactively validating Halligan and her actions would be unheard of.
“The implications of a contrary conclusion are extraordinary,” Currie wrote. “It would mean the Government could send any private citizen off the street — attorney or not — into the grand jury room to secure an indictment so long as the Attorney General gives her approval after the fact. That cannot be the law.”
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Comey praised the judge’s decision in a social media video.
“I am grateful the Court ended the case against me, which was a prosecution based on malevolence and incompetence, and a reflection of what the Justice Department has become under Donald Trump, which is heartbreaking,” Comey said.
Leavitt told Fox News that “maybe James Comey should pump the brakes on his victory lap” in light of the DOJ’s anticipated appeal.
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