James Comey indictment wasnt seen by full grand jury, Trumps handpicked prosecutor Linsday Halligan admits
ALEXANDRIA, Va.— Lindsey Halligan, the interim US attorney who secured the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey, admitted to the trial judge Wednesday that the full grand jury never saw the final version of the charges against the former top lawman.Halligan told US District Judge Michael Nachmanoff that “the foreperson and another grand juror was also present” when she presented a revised version of the indictment that dropped one count the 24-person panel could not agree on.Another prosecutor, Tyler Lemons, insisted the revision meant “there was not a new indictment,” but only small changes made.
Grand jurors were initially presented with a bill accusing Comey, 64, of two counts of making false statements to Congress and one count of obstruction of justice.However, one of the false statement counts failed to get majority buy-in from the panelists, resulting in the two-count indictment being handed up.
When pressed further by Nachmanoff, Lemons also admitted the full panel never saw the two-count indictment.In response, defense attorney Michael Dreeben called for the case to be thrown out, claiming the indictment had not been properly secured before the expiration of the five-year statute of limitations Sept.
30.The charges against Comey stem from his claim to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept.30, 2020, that he never authorized leaks about high-profile FBI investigations to the press.
He is slated to go on trial on Jan.5, 2026, but has sought to get the case tossed out on multiple grounds, claiming both vindictive prosecution and the unlawful appointment of Halligan.Comey scored a major win in the case Monday when Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick ordered Halligan’s office to turn over their grand jury materials to Comey, finding evidence of “a disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps, missteps that … potentially undermine the integrity of the grand jury proceeding.”Nachmanoff paused Fitzpatrick’s order until he...