Federal Judge Dismisses Indictments Against Letitia James and James Comey, Citing Unlawful Prosecutor Appointment

A federal judge has dismissed the criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, ruling that the indictments brought against them were invalid because the interim U.S. Attorney who led the prosecutions, Lindsey Halligan, was unlawfully appointed.

Judge Cameron McGowan Currie found that the Justice Department had no legal authority to install Halligan as interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, noting that the statutory 120-day window for such an appointment had expired months before Halligan was selected. Her appointment, the judge wrote, was therefore “invalid,” and any action taken under her authority — including the indictments — must be thrown out.

“The Attorney General’s attempt to install Ms. Halligan as Interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia was invalid,” Currie wrote. “All actions flowing from Ms. Halligan’s defective appointment… were unlawful exercises of executive power and are hereby set aside.”

The cases were dismissed without prejudice, meaning prosecutors could potentially refile charges in the future. But Monday’s ruling is a major setback for the Trump administration, which had handpicked Halligan amid mounting pressure to bring legal action against Comey and James, both longtime critics of the president.

The judge directly compared the situation to Trump’s classified documents case, in which charges were dismissed after the court ruled Special Counsel Jack Smith was unlawfully appointed. In Halligan’s case, Currie wrote that allowing the government to bypass Senate confirmation by stacking successive interim appointments would let officials “evade the Senate confirmation process indefinitely.”

Halligan, a former White House adviser, took over the office on September 22, 2025, after the administration pushed out interim U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert. Currie determined that Siebert’s 120-day term began in January, meaning appointment power had expired in May — months before Halligan’s selection.

The judge also rejected government arguments defending Halligan’s appointment, saying those claims would effectively allow the Attorney General to dispatch “any private citizen off the street” into a grand jury room to secure indictments without proper authority.

Comey had been charged with lying to Congress and obstructing an investigation, while James faced charges of bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution. Both pleaded not guilty and argued the cases were politically motivated. Their attorneys pointed to repeated statements and posts from President Trump demanding their prosecution.

Letitia James celebrated the ruling, saying she was “heartened” by the dismissal and would continue fighting for New Yorkers. Comey has long insisted the charges were retaliatory, citing his firing during Trump’s first term and ongoing criticism of the former president.

The Justice Department has not yet commented on the ruling.

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