Judge throws out cases against Trump’s enemies, finds prosecutor illegally appointed

Washington: A US judge has spectacularly thrown out criminal cases against former FBI director James Comey and New York Attorney-General Letitia James, finding President Donald Trump’s hand-picked prosecutor was illegally appointed to the role.

The Trump administration quickly signalled it believed the ruling was flawed and would appeal.

Lindsey Halligan, Trump’s former personal lawyer, was named interim US attorney in the key Virginia district amid resistance from the office about proceeding with prosecutions against the president’s political enemies.

But on Tuesday (AEDT), a federal judge in South Carolina, Cameron McGown Currie, found that Halligan was not validly appointed because the law only allowed the attorney-general to appoint an interim attorney to the post once, for a period of 120 days.

After that, the only entity with the power to make further interim appointments was the district court. As a presidential appointee, Halligan would have to be confirmed by the Senate, which has not yet occurred.

As such, Currie ruled that Halligan had “no lawful authority” to bring indictments against Comey and James. “All actions flowing from Ms Halligan’s defective appointment … were unlawful exercises of executive power and are hereby set aside,” she wrote.

Currie dismissed the cases without prejudice, giving the Justice Department the opportunity to refile charges with a different prosecutor at the helm.

However, in the case of Comey, it appeared the five-year statute of limitations may now have lapsed. He was indicted on charges of making false statements to the US Congress during a hearing in September 2020.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Trump administration would appeal the decision and Comey should “pump the brakes on his victory lap”.

“It is our position that Lindsey Halligan is extremely qualified for this position, but more importantly, was legally appointed,” she told reporters at the White House.

‘A message has to be sent that the president of the United States cannot use the Department of Justice to target his political enemies.’

James Comey, former FBI director

“There was a judge who is clearly trying to shield Letitia James and James Comey from receiving accountability, and that’s why they took this unprecedented action to throw away the indictments against these two individuals.”

Comey said the case against him was based on malevolence and incompetence, and he expected Trump to come after him again. He praised the Justice Department lawyers who resisted pursuing the case to begin with.

“A message has to be sent that the president of the United States cannot use the Department of Justice to target his political enemies,” Comey said in an Instagram video.

“I don’t care what your politics are – you have to see that as fundamentally un-American and a threat to the rule of law that keeps all of us free.”

‘Fundamental misstatements’

Halligan, who had no prosecutorial experience and was leading her first case, was separately excoriated by a magistrate in the Comey case for making “fundamental misstatements of the law” when obtaining the indictment from a grand jury.

Trump ordered Attorney-General Pam Bondi to appoint Halligan to the post after her predecessor Erik Siebert declined to pursue charges against Comey or James, citing a lack of credible evidence in both cases.

Shortly after her appointment, Halligan alone secured indictments against Comey and James after other career prosecutors in the office refused to participate.

Both pleaded not guilty. James had been indicted on charges of bank fraud and lying to a financial institution.

Siebert was appointed in an interim capacity after the Joe Biden-appointed prosecutor resigned. Siebert was never confirmed by the Senate and served under arrangements enabled by district judges. But it meant Bondi had in effect used up her one opportunity to appoint an interim attorney, the court found.

Lawyers for the Justice Department argued the law allowed the attorney-general to make multiple interim appointments for US attorneys. Still, Bondi sought to shore up the cases by issuing a retroactive order that installed Halligan as a “special attorney” assigned to both prosecutions.

Bondi’s order was issued on October 31 and backdated to September 22, three days before Comey was indicted.

Currie found this was not valid. “The government has identified no authority allowing the attorney-general to reach back in time and rewrite the terms of a past appointment,” she wrote.

“Regardless of what the Attorney-General ‘intended’, or ‘could have’ done, the fact remains that Ms Halligan was not an ‘attorney authorised by law’ to conduct grand jury proceedings when she secured Mr Comey’s indictment.”

The challenge to Halligan’s appointment was one of several efforts lawyers for Comey and James made to have the cases against them thrown out. Both also argued that the cases are “vindictive” prosecutions motivated by Trump’s animosity.

With AP, Reuters

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