A federal judge has thrown out the criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, ruling that the prosecutor who pursued the charges at President Donald Trump’s behest was unlawfully appointed by the Justice Department.
U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie’s decision serves as a remarkable criticism of the Trump administration’s attempts to go after his political foes. It further underscores the administration’s quick move to place a loyal prosecutor ready to advance these cases.
The rulings have resulted in Lindsey Halligan becoming the latest Trump-era prosecutor to face disqualification due to the manner of appointment. Both Comey and James sought to have their cases dismissed with prejudice, which would prevent the Justice Department from refiling them. However, the judge chose to dismiss the cases without prejudice, leaving the possibility open, though uncertain, that the Justice Department might revisit the prosecutions.
The order issued on Monday specifically addresses the process used by the Trump administration to appoint Halligan, a former White House aide lacking prosecutorial experience, to head one of the Justice Department’s most prestigious offices.
Halligan’s appointment came in September following the pressured resignation of interim U.S. attorney Erik Siebert, who was pushed by the Trump administration to lodge charges against Comey and James.
Comey’s legal team argued that after Siebert’s departure, the responsibility to choose a successor should have fallen to the federal court district judges. Instead, Trump appointed Halligan, urging action against his political adversaries in a Truth Social post, declaring, “JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!”
Comey was indicted days later on charges of making a false statement and obstructing Congress, and James was charged soon after that in a mortgage fraud investigation.
Judges have separately disqualified interim U.S. attorneys in New Jersey, Los Angeles and Nevada, but have permitted cases brought under their watch to move forward. But lawyers for Comey and James had argued that Currie’s ruling needed to go even further because Halligan was the sole signer of the indictments and the driving force behind them.
Comey has for years been one of Trump’s chief antagonists. Appointed to the job in 2013 by President Barack Obama, Comey, at the time of Trump’s 2016 election, was overseeing an investigation into whether his presidential campaign had conspired with Russia to sway the outcome of the race. Furious over that investigation, Trump fired Comey in May 2017 and the two officials have verbally sparred in the years since.
James has also been a frequent target of Trump’s ire, especially since she won a staggering judgment against him and the Trump Organization in a lawsuit alleging he defrauded banks by overstating the value of his real estate holdings on financial statements. An appeals court overturned the fine, which had ballooned to more than $500 million with interest, but upheld a lower court’s finding that Trump had committed fraud.
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