Comey, James not in clear just yet
Department of Justice plans to appeal ruling
By: Aysha Bagchi
USA Today
..... Former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, scored major legal victories November 24 [2025] when a judge determined the prosecutor who brought charges against them was serving unlawfully. But the win doesn't mean they're in the clear just yet.
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Senior U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, dismissed the indictments against both targets of President Donald Trump, ruling that charging documents couldn't stand if the prosecutor who secured them wasn't legitimately appointed.
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Attorney General Pam Bondi said the Justice Department will appeal the ruling, offering one potential lifeline for the cases. But even if the Justice Department loses that appeal it could seek new charges against James, and potentially against Comey, too.
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Asked for comment for this story, James; office pointed USA Today to her November 24 [2025] statement saying she was "heartened by this vorticity" and remains "fearless in the face of these baseless charges." Comey's lawyers and the Justice Department did not respond to requests for comment.
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If the Justice Department wins on appeal, it would revive the cases against both James and Comey. But even barring that kind of success, the department would still have options to keep pursuing the pair. Most federal crimes can only be charged if the indictment is brought within a certain time frame. That's true for the charges both James and Comey face.
..... James was charged with bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution, crimes hat must be charged within 10 years of when they occurred. The original indictment alleges that James committed those crimes from 2020 to 2024, meaning the Justice Department still has plenty of time to seek a new indictment.
..... Comey, on the other hand, was charged with lying to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding, crimes that fall under a five-year deadline for bring charges. The indictment against Comey alleges he commuted those crimes on or about September 20, 2020, meaning the original deadline to bring charges has expired.
..... However, there;s a federal law that typically gives the government an extra six months to seek new charges after a federal indictment is dismissed.
..... The question is whether that law applies to Comey's situation.
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Currie seemed to suggest that law won't help the government bring new charges against Comey. In a footnote in her November 24 [2025] opinion, she wrote that while a valid indictment generally stops the clock and lets the government refile the same charges, an invalid indictment "cannot serve to block the door ... as it swing closed."
..... However, not all legal experts have agreed on that interpretation of the law. Ed Wheelan, who was a Justice Department official during the George W. Bush presidency, posted on X that Currie's footnote struck him as "virtually irrelevant." He noted the law includes an exception for situations in which an indictment was dismissed for a reason "that would bar a new prosecution," but said that exception "would seem not to apply."
..... Lawyer Sarah Isgur, who served in the Justice Department during Trump's first presidency but went on to criticize White House interference with the department, said the :advisory Opinion: podcast that she believes the law granting an extra six months would apply to Comey's situation.
..... "The language in this statute is just so broad," Isgur said.
..... If the Justice Department can bring new charges, another requisition is whether it leadership can find someone who will bring them.
..... Lindsey Halligan, a former personal lawyer to Trump with no previous experience as a prosecutor, was installed to replace Erik Siebert, the former head of the Eastern Virginia federal prosecuting office, who reportedly expressed skepticism about bring charges against Coney or James.
..... Under Currie's ruling, it's up to the U.S. district Court for the Eastern District of Virginia to fill vacancy at the head of the U.S. attorney's office for that district until the role can be permanently filled by a presidential nominee approved by the Senate.
..... It remains to be seen if a future appointee would also secure indictments form federal grand juries again.
..... The Trump administration could also seek to have the charges pursed by someone whew doesn't head that Virgina prosecuting office. in an attempt to fix any potential defect in how Halligan secured charges, Bondi issued an order October 31 [2025] appointing her to serve as a "special attorney" unauthorized to conduct legal proceeding in the eastern District of Virginia, including specifically the prosecutions against James and Comey. Bondi said in that order the special attorney appointment was retroactive and thus applied back to September 22. [2025]
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Currie ruled that Bondi couldn't retroactively fix the problems of Halligan's appointment in that fashion. But that doesn't mean Bondi can't try to install Halligan to helm future prosecutions against James and Comey by designating her a "special attorney."
..... Even if the Trump administration found another way to bring the same charges against Jame sand Comey, that wouldn't mean the charges would make it to trial.
..... Both James and Comey have argued in motions that their cases should be dismissed because the Trump administration is allegedly pursuing them vindictively and has allegedly engaged in "outrageous conduct." For instance, James alleged the Trump administration only obtained charges against her after "the systematic removal of ethics officials and career prosecutors who stood in the way."
..... James sued Trump civilly as New York's attorney general in a case that threatened to cost him hundreds of millions of dollars. Comey has been an outspoken critic of Trump since the president fired him in 2017. the Justice Department asked grand juries to indict Comey and James only after Trump posted on social media September 20 [2025] that both were "guilty as hell" and should be charged. Trump didn't specify in his post what charges he had in mind.
..... Roger Parloff, a former attorney who covers legal issues for the Lawfare legal publication, said on the Lawfare Live" podcast that if Halligan is appointed a "special attorney" simply to prosecute James and Comey, that could strengthen the defense's case.
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"it reinforces the view that there's something vindictive and selective about these tow prosecutions," Parloff said.