‘There Is No Indictment’: Lindsey Halligan May Have Made A Crucial Error In Comey Case

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan might have made a crucial error in the case against former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey, which his defense attorneys claim warrants dismissal.

During a hearing to consider Comey’s motion to dismiss the case for vindictive and selective prosecution, attorneys for the Department of Justice (DOJ) admitted that the full grand jury never saw the final version of the indictment.

The detail emerged while Judge Michael Nachmanoff pressed the government about inconsistencies in the grand jury transcript. At one point, he called Halligan, who has so far left an assistant U.S. attorney to speak for the government, to the stand.

Halligan secured the indictment on Sept. 25, just days after her appointment. She stated that only the foreperson and another grand juror were present when the final version was signed.

After the grand jury rejected one of the three original counts in the indictment, the redrafted two-count indictment was not presented to the full grand jury, prosecutors told the judge.

“There is no indictment,” Comey’s defense attorney Michael Dreeben concluded. “That’s a threshold for dismissing this case.”

Judge Nachmanoff did not make a determination on the issue but requested further briefing.

A magistrate judge suggested Monday that “profound investigative missteps” by the Department of Justice (DOJ) could provide grounds for dismissal, ordering prosecutors to turn over grand jury transcripts to the defense. Nachmanoff halted the order to give the government time to file objections.

‘Halligan Was Not A Puppet’