ALEXANDRIA, Virginia – A federal judge grilled the Department of Justice Wednesday about whether it mishandled the grand jury indictment against former FBI Director James Comey and asked if interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan, who is leading the case, acted at the behest of President Donald Trump.
Judge Michael Nachmanoff found during the hearing in Alexandria, Virginia, that Halligan signed an indictment alleging two charges against Comey but that that document was never presented to the full grand jury, a revelation that could imperil the case if Nachmanoff decides it is enough to delegitimize the indictment.
Nachmanoff directed Halligan, who had no prosecutorial experience before Trump installed her to lead the Eastern District of Virginia in September, to come to the stand, giving her the chance to speak for the first time in the courtroom since her appointment.
Halligan confirmed that she presented a prior indictment that showed three charges against Comey to the grand jury. The jurors had, however, rejected one of the charges, leading Halligan to later sign a second indictment leaving off that charge.
Tyler Lemons, the North Carolina-based federal prosecutor who argued on behalf of the DOJ, downplayed the issue. Lemons said the indictments were identical and that the second one was created as soon as the grand jury proceedings concluded and merely excised the one charge that the grand jury rejected.
Nachmanoff did not make any decisions about the validity of the indictment from the bench and instead ordered more briefing on the matter.
Comey’s lawyer, Michael Dreeben, viewed the document debacle as fatal to the case, saying it appears ‘there is no indictment.’
The grand jury dispute was part of a broader hearing centered on Comey’s argument that his charges were a product of Trump’s vindictiveness and that the case should be tossed out entirely because of it. Comey was present in the courtroom while Dreeben argued on his behalf.
Nachmanoff, a Biden appointee, asked Dreeben if Halligan was a ‘puppet’ or a ‘stalking horse’ who was doing Trump’s bidding.
Dreeben responded that he would not use those words but that his team believed Halligan was operating at the direction of Trump, rather than independently. Dreeben said Trump had a years-long vendetta against Comey, who has been a vocal opponent of Trump since the president fired him from the FBI in 2017.
Dreeben argued that a directive Trump posted on social media in September to Attorney General Pam Bondi publicly pressuring her to quickly bring charges against several of Trump’s political nemeses, including Comey, contained ‘tit-for-tat’ messaging that proved the indictment was tainted by vengeance.
Trump had written in the post that he had read that Comey and others were ”all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done.”
‘We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility. … They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!’ Trump wrote.
Dreeben said the post was ‘effectively an admission that this is a political prosecution.’
Lemons said Trump also told the press he was uninvolved in Comey’s case, but Dreeben said the president ‘can’t just walk back’ his social media post.
Dreeben bolstered his argument by laying out a timeline that showed Halligan, a former insurance lawyer and White House aide, assumed the top prosecutorial role and brought the indictment within four days.
Nachmanoff expressed doubt that Halligan had vetted Comey’s case.
‘What independent evaluation could she have done [in four days]?’ the judge asked.
He also pressed the DOJ on whether any memo existed that had advised against charging Comey, a question that follows the Trump administration ousting Halligan’s predecessor, Erik Siebert, in part because of his reluctance to prosecute the former FBI director.
Lemons struggled to answer the question before concluding that the memo, if it existed, would be a ‘privileged matter’ that he did not have permission to disclose. He said Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s office directed him not to reveal any privileged material.
Meghan Tome contributed to this report.
