A federal judge on Monday dismissed the indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, ruling that the charges were invalid because they were brought by an unqualified U.S. attorney.
According to Fox News, Judge Cameron Currie, a Clinton appointee based in South Carolina, threw out the false statements charges against Comey and bank fraud charges against James without prejudice, meaning prosecutors could potentially refile them under a properly appointed attorney.
“I conclude that the Attorney General’s attempt to install Ms. [Lindsey] Halligan as Interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia was invalid and that Ms. Halligan has been unlawfully serving in that role since September 22, 2025,” Currie wrote.
The Department of Justice could appeal the decision or attempt to bring the charges under a different U.S. attorney.
The ruling comes after Currie had previously expressed skepticism about Halligan’s authority to bring the indictments.
Halligan, a former White House aide and insurance lawyer with no prior prosecutorial experience, acted alone in presenting the cases to a grand jury shortly after Trump removed the prior interim U.S. attorney, Erik Siebert.
Halligan also signed the indictments herself, without assistance from other Virginia prosecutors.
Trump had reportedly urged Attorney General Pam Bondi to replace Siebert with Halligan, emphasizing the urgency of indicting Comey and others before the statutes of limitations expired.
Bondi complied, but Currie found that Siebert’s interim term had already expired, leaving the responsibility to appoint a temporary U.S. attorney with Virginia judges until a new appointee could be confirmed by the Senate.
The judge noted that Halligan’s unilateral actions made the charges legally defective. Bondi had later attempted to ratify and re-ratify the indictments, but Currie suggested such measures would have been unnecessary if Halligan had been a valid appointee.
The dismissal effectively halts two of the most high-profile criminal cases brought by the DOJ against political figures closely associated with President Donald Trump, at least temporarily, while raising questions about the legality of interim appointments in politically charged prosecutions.
