The beauty queen insurance lawyer was not lawfully appointed to the job and the cases are voided. And the fact that they couldn’t dredge up any qualified prosecutor to do their dirty work says everything.
A federal judge on Monday dismissed the criminal indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James after finding the prosecutor who brought the cases, former Trump attorney Lindsey Halligan, was not lawfully appointed.
U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie said that she agreed with Comey, who moved to dismiss the case on the grounds that Halligan’s appointment was illegal.
“Because Ms. Halligan had no lawful authority to present the indictment, I will grant Mr. Comey’s motion and dismiss the indictment,” Currie wrote in finding that Halligan lacked the authority to present a case to a grand jury.
“All actions flowing from Ms. Halligan’s defective appointment, including securing and signing Mr. Comey’s indictment, were unlawful exercises of executive power and are hereby set aside,” the judge wrote, describing the insurance lawyer as “a former White House aide with no prior prosecutorial experience.”
She issued a separate, similar ruling dismissing the James case.
“This case presents the unique, if not unprecedented, situation where an unconstitutionally appointed prosecutor, ‘exercising power [she] did not lawfully possess,’… acted alone in conducting a grand jury proceeding and securing an indictment,” the ruling said.
Because Halligan, who was appointed interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia at President Donald Trump’s direction, was the only prosecutor to present the cases and sign the indictments, the indictments should be voided, the judge found.
The U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment. Halligan and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Unfortunately, the case was dismissed without prejudice which means they can bring it again (pending certain decisions about the statue of limitations) and from what the White House said, they plan to do it. (The fact that it’s the White House and not the DOJ saying it is telling in itself.)
The wingnuts are all screaming “he was let off on a technicality!” like that means it was corrup. It should have them being embarrassed that their Dear Leader and his henchmen are so amateurish and incompetent that they couldn’t find a real prosecutor to bring the cases. But they, like Trump himself, are shameless so they will never admit that his revenge tour is childish and unAmerican.
Comey put up a video. And Leticia James issued a statement:
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.
It’s stunning that it’s happening in the first place but at least there are still judges that believe in the rule of law.