Name: Cases against James Comey, Letitia James dismissed
Uploaded: 2025-11-24T19:07:27.558Z
Duration: 2 min 11 s
Description: A federal judge has dismissed the criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James on the grounds that Lindsey Halligan, the interim U.S. attorney who secured their indictments, was unlawfully appointed to the role.

A federal judge has dismissed the criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James on the grounds that Lindsey Halligan, the interim U.S. attorney who secured their indictments, was unlawfully appointed to the role.

Washington

A federal judge in Virginia has dismissed the criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. The dismissal was based on the finding that Lindsey Halligan, the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney who prosecuted the cases, was not lawfully appointed to her position.

Both cases were dismissed without prejudice, allowing for the possibility of refiling. However, the statute of limitations has expired for Comey's case, making future prosecution unlikely. The judge noted that Halligan was the only prosecutor on both cases and her appointment exceeded the allowed acting period.

Cases against James Comey, Letitia James dismissed

And this is a CBS News special report. I'm John Dickerson. The criminal case, case is, I should say, against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James have just been dismissed. Comey was charged with giving false statements to Congress back in 2020 and obstruction of justice. He pleaded not guilty. James, who also pleaded not guilty, was charged with bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution. The case was being prosecuted by Trump-appointed U.S. attorney Lindsey Halligan, who has never tried a criminal case. A Virginia federal judge found Halligan was illegally appointed to the role. Let's start with justice correspondent Scott McFarlane. Scott, the judge's ruling, illegally appointed to the role, what does that mean? These two very high-profile criminal defendants made a series of arguments to get their cases dismissed. They both think they're politically motivated cases, you know, vindictive prosecutions, that there was some form of problem with the grand jury as well. That's not what this is. This ruling is that the prosecutor on the case, Lindsey Halligan, who two months ago was a Trump White House aide, was not lawfully in the position of U.S. attorney, and therefore the cases must collapse. And they're dead for now, John. They're both dismissed without prejudice, which means they can be refiled, but it's going to be complicated for James Comey. His case is beyond the statute of limitations of five years. What the judge is saying here is that Lindsey Halligan is not in the position lawfully because there's a four-month window in which you could have an acting U.S. attorney serving as top prosecutor. That window closed September 22nd. Therefore, Halligan is not to be the U.S. attorney unless judges choose her to be. What's more, John, in this unique scenario, Lindsey Halligan is the only prosecutor whose name is on the James Comey case and on the Letitia James case. She's the only one who would sign her name to it, the only one who presented to the grand jury. If she's not there lawfully, there's no second chair. There's no backup. Therefore, the cases are dismissed without prejudice as of today.

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