A federal judge on Monday dismissed the government’s indictment of former FBI Director James B. Comey, ruling that President Trump’s appointment of Lindsey Halligan as interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia was invalid.
Judge Cameron McGowan Currie also threw out the indictment of New York Attorney General Letitia James, who was indicted by Ms. Halligan on mortgage fraud charges.
Judge Currie dismissed both indictments without prejudice, which leaves open the possibility that the government can refile the charges, although some legal experts say the five-year statute of limitations may have expired for Mr. Comey’s alleged offenses.
A federal grand jury charged Mr. Comey on Sept. 25 with making false statements about leaks to the media regarding his 2016 probe into then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s missing government emails.
He was also charged with obstructing a congressional investigation into the disclosure of “sensitive information” to the media.
Mr. Comey pleaded not guilty in October.
His lawyers sought to have the case thrown out through several avenues, including the argument that the installation of Ms. Halligan was invalid because it took place after her predecessor had already exceeded the 120-day limit for temporary appointments.
Judge Currie agreed with Mr. Comey’s lawyers. He called Ms. Halligan’s appointment “defective” and ruled all of her actions in that role “constitute unlawful exercises of executive power and must be set aside.”
Ms. Halligan, he wrote in two separate rulings, “had no lawful authority” to indict Mr. Comey or Ms. James.
A federal grand jury indicted Ms. James on Oct. 9 on bank fraud charges and making false statements to a bank to get more favorable terms on a residential mortgage.
In a Nov. 7 motion seeking to dismiss the case, Ms James called the charges against her retaliatory and pointed to Mr. Trump calling Ms. James “crooked,” “scum” and other derogatory names.
Mr. Comey also argued in court papers that Mr. Trump is seeking revenge by filing charges against him.
Ms. Halligan submitted new documents last week in the case against Ms. James, who is charged with lying to mortgage companies during her purchase of a three-bedroom home on Peronne Avenue in Norfolk, Virginia, in 2020. Ms. James said the home would serve as a secondary residence on her mortgage application, which prosecutors say helped her acquire a mortgage rate of 3% instead of 3.8%. Instead of using it as her residence, she rented it out to a relative.
The new evidence suggests Ms. James was aware of the deception. She claimed to the IRS and a homeowners’ insurance company that the Norfolk home would be an investment property, even though she listed it as a secondary residence on her mortgage application. Ms. James took the tax deduction “consistent with an investment property” until 2024, when she wrote to her accountant that the deduction “looks suspicious” and stopped taking it.
“Defendants’ actions show she knew the Peronne residence was not a secondary residence, but rather an investment property,” prosecutors argued.
