Judge tosses cases against Comey, James
Ruling finds prosecutor was unlawfully appointed
By: Aysha Bagchi
Bart Jansen
and Josh Meyers
USA Today
..... A judge ordered hat charges against former FBI director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, both targets of President Donald Trump, be dismissed surcease the prosecutor who secured the charges was unlawfully appointed.
.....
Senior U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie wrote in opinions on November 24 [2025] that only a district court had the power to appoint a new head to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern district of Virginia after the previous head of that office departed.
..... Instead, Attorney Gen real Pam Bondi attempted to appoint Lindsy Halligan, a former personal lawyer to Trump, to heed the office.
..... Halligan then secured charges against Comey and James from federal grand juries.
..... "I conclude that all actions flowing form Ms. Halligan's defective appointment, including securing and signing Mr. Comey's indictment, constitute unlawful exercises of executive power and must be set aside," Currie wrote in Comey's case.
..... In a separate opinion in James' case, Currie used almost identical language to dismiss the charges against the New York attorney general.
..... Comey, a native of Allendale, [NJ] was charged with lying to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding when he testified before a Senate committee in 2020. James was charged with bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution.
..... The Justice Department and lawyers for Comey did not immediately respond to request for comment. In a statement following the ruling, James said she was "heartened" by the victory.
..... "I remain fearless in the face of these baseless charges as I continue fighting for New Yorkers," James said.
..... Abbe Lowell, a lawyer for James, said in a statement November 23 [2025] that Trump "went to extreme measures to substitute on of his allies to bring these baseless charges after career prosecutors refused."
..... The Comey indictment dropped five days after Trump posted on social media September 20 [2025] that Comey, James and Senator Adam Schiff, D-California, were "all guilty as hell" and that delay was not an option. The president did not specify what the three people were guilty of. James was indicted within three weeks of the post.