James Comey, Letitia James Charges Dismissed by US Judge (3)

A federal judge threw out the criminal charges against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, ruling that the prosecutor who brought the cases had been illegally appointed.

The appointment of Lindsey Halligan as interim US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia was unlawful, US District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie said in rulings Monday. She dismissed the charges against Comey and James without prejudice, meaning that prosecutors may be able to refile the cases.

“I conclude that the attorney general’s attempt to install Ms. Halligan as interim US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia was invalid and that Ms. Halligan has been unlawfully serving in that role since Sept. 22, 2025,” Currie, a Bill Clinton appointee, wrote in separate rulings in both cases.

President Donald Trump abruptly installed Halligan in September after her predecessor resigned under pressure to bring charges against Comey and James. Attorney General Pam Bondi decided how to appoint Halligan and she was the sole prosecutor who secured separate grand jury indictments against both of them.

The rulings represent another astonishing rebuke of how Trump and his Justice Department have handled cases as other prosecutors have been dealt significant blows by federal judges who found their lawyering to be suspect or unlawful. The appointments of three other US Attorneys, in New Jersey, Nevada and Los Angeles, were also ruled illegal by judges.

Comey and James are among a group of Trump’s perceived political foes who have faced investigations after the president called for their prosecution. Comey was fired by Trump as FBI director in 2017 and has gone on to become a fierce critic of the president. James filed a civil fraud lawsuit against Trump that resulted in a verdict of almost half a billion dollars in damages.

Comey was indicted in September for allegedly lying to Congress and obstruction related to testimony he gave in 2020. James was indicted in October for one count of alleged bank fraud and one count of making false statements to a financial institution related to a mortgage on a home she owns in Virginia. Both have denied any wrongdoing and are fighting their respective charges in court.

Halligan raced to file charges against Comey before a five-year time limit on the allegations dating from his testimony in front of Congress ran out. Comey’s lawyer, however, said the statute of limitations has expired, and the Justice Department can’t re-indict him.

“The decision recognizes that the case was brought by someone who had no authority whatsoever to be the United States Attorney,” the lawyer, Patrick Fitzgerald, said in a statement. “The decision further indicates that because the indictment is void, the statute of limitations has run and there can be no further indictment.”

The indictment of James doesn’t face statute of limitations issues, lowering the bar to refiling the case, but her lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said “we will continue to challenge any further politically motivated charges through every lawful means available.”

Trump “went to extreme measures to substitute one of his allies to bring these baseless charges after career prosecutors refused,” Lowell said.

Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said that Halligan was legally appointed and that the Justice Department would file an appeal.

“I know there was a judge who is clearly trying to shield Letitia James and James Comey from receiving accountability, and that’s why they took this unprecedented action to throw away the indictments against these two individuals,” Leavitt told reporters.

‘Extraordinary’

James and Comey filed separate legal challenges arguing the appointment of Halligan violated the Justice Department’s process for naming interim US attorneys.

“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.”

Judges overseeing Comey’s case have also found significant problems with how it’s been handled. They’re expected to issue their own rulings on whether to dismiss the case.

US District Judge Michael Nachmanoff questioned Halligan and other prosecutors about how the grand jury process was handled in the Comey case during a Nov. 19 hearing. Meanwhile, US Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick issued a ruling on Nov. 17 citing 11 potential missteps in the process to obtain the indictment against Comey.

James said she was “heartened” by the ruling. “I remain fearless in the face of these baseless charges as I continue fighting for New Yorkers every single day,” James said in a statement.

Currie, a senior judge, is normally based in South Carolina. The veteran jurist was asked to take over the case out of Virginia to ensure impartiality because the Virginia-based judges previously voted to fill the US Attorney position with someone else.

(Adds White House comment in 13th paragraph.)

--With assistance from Erik Larson, David Voreacos and Josh Wingrove.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Chris Strohm in Washington at cstrohm1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou at megkolfopoul@bloomberg.net

Anthony Aarons, Sara Forden

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