There’s Nothing Wrong With How Comey Indictment Was Obtained, DOJ Says

There is no issue with how the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey was obtained, the Department of Justice (DOJ) argued in new court filings.

Prosecutors sought to correct the record in filings following a Wednesday hearing where they admitted under questioning from the judge that the final version of the indictment was not shown to the full grand jury. Comey’s defense attorneys declared the potential misstep was grounds for dismissing the case.

“The official transcript of the September 25, 2025, proceedings before Magistrate Judge Vaala conclusively refutes that claim and establishes that the grand jury voted on – and true-billed – the two-count indictment,” prosecutors wrote in a Thursday filing.

A section of the grand jury transcript publicly filed Thursday reveals initial confusion arose when the magistrate judge was presented on Sept. 25 with two indictments: one two-count indictment and a three-count indictment that suggested the jurors did not concur.

“So the three counts should be just one count,” the jury foreperson explained, according to the transcript. “It was the very first count that we did not agree on, and the Count Two and Three were then put in a different package, which we agreed on.”

The foreperson affirmed that jurors voted on the “one that has the two counts.” The judge noted this has “never happened before” and asked Halligan to offer an explanation.

“I only reviewed the one with the two counts that our office redrafted when we found out about the two — two counts that were true billed, and I signed that one,” Halligan told the judge. “I did not see the other one. I don’t know where that came from.”