Judge tosses Comey, James cases after finding prosecutor unlawfully appointed
JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
A federal judge has dismissed the Justice Department's cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. The federal court found the prosecutor who secured the indictments was unlawfully appointed. This ruling is a major setback for the Justice Department and for President Trump himself, who publicly called for both Comey and James to be prosecuted. NPR justice correspondent Ryan Lucas joins us now. Hi.
RYAN LUCAS, BYLINE: Hi there.
SUMMERS: So, Ryan, the prosecutor in question here is acting U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan. What do we need to know about her?
LUCAS: So, right, Halligan is a former insurance attorney who later became a White House aide after Trump returned to office. Trump then hand-picked her in September to serve as the acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and he did so after forcing out the previous top prosecutor there, who had resisted bringing charges against both Comey and James because of concerns about the strength of the evidence. Now, days after Halligan was appointed, she secured a two-count indictment against Comey on false statements and obstruction charges. Those are tied to testimony that he gave to Congress in 2020. Important point here - this was just days before the statute of limitations expired.
Two weeks after the Comey indictment, Halligan - again, on her own - secured a separate indictment against Letitia James for bank fraud and false statements. Both Comey and James pleaded not guilty. They also both challenged Halligan's appointment, saying that it was unlawful. And a federal judge has now agreed with them.
SUMMERS: What did the judge say in this ruling?
LUCAS: So this is a ruling from U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie. She was appointed to the bench by President Bill Clinton. She's actually based in South Carolina but was brought in specifically to handle legal challenges to Halligan's appointment. And what Judge Currie found is that Halligan's appointment violates a statute that governs intern - interim U.S. attorney appointments as well as the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution. And because of that, the judge says in her ruling, everything that came after Halligan was appointed, including the indictments against both Comey and James, all of that was unlawful.
And so she dismissed this case, but she did so without prejudice, and that means the Justice Department could, in theory, refile the charges, although it's unclear how exactly that would look. With Comey there's an added complication, and that's that the statute of limitations has now passed.
SUMMERS: Right. Any reaction so far from James Comey or Letitia James?
LUCAS: Comey put out a video statement on Instagram. He said the case against him was based on malevolence and incompetence. He said he's grateful that the court ended it. He also said this.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JAMES COMEY: A message has to be sent that the president of the United States cannot use the Department of Justice to target his political enemies. I don't care what your politics are. You have to see that as fundamentally un-American and a threat to the rule of law that keeps all of us free.
LUCAS: Now, for her part, James said in a statement that she's heartened by the ruling. She said she remains fearless in the face of what she called baseless charges. And her attorney, Abbe Lowell, said they're going to continue to challenge any further - what he called - politically motivated charges.
SUMMERS: Have we heard any word from the White House or the Department of Justice yet?
LUCAS: White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was on Fox News today. She said the judge here took what Leavitt called unprecedented action to throw out these cases on a technical ruling. She said the administration disagrees with this decision. And she argued that Halligan was legally appointed, and she said the Justice Department is going to appeal. So in her words, Leavitt's words, Comey should pump the brakes on his victory lap.
Stepping back for one second, though, it's worth noting that this is just one of several legal challenges that Comey and James had raised against their respective prosecutions. They've also argued, for instance, that these were vindictive prosecutions, that they were being targeted for political reasons. So the fight over Halligan's appointment was just the first one that came to a head, and for now at least, it was a clear win for the defense.
SUMMERS: NPR's Ryan Lucas, thank you.
LUCAS: Thank you.
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