New York Attorney General Letitia and former FBI Director James Comey.
Michael M. Santiago | Cherise May | Null Photo | Getty Images
A federal judge on Monday dismissed criminal charges against former FBI Director James Comey and New York State Attorney General Letitia James, ruling that the appointment of interim U.S. Attorney Lindsay Harrigan, who prosecuted them, was invalid.
President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney Harrigan was appointed as prosecutor in violation of the Constitution’s Appointments Clause, Senior District Judge Cameron Curry ruled in both cases in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia.
“We conclude that all actions resulting from Mr. Harrigan’s defective appointment, including securing and signing Mr. James’s indictment, constitute an unlawful exercise of executive power and should be disregarded,” Curry wrote in his ruling. A separate order discarding Comey’s lawsuit says the same thing.
Both lawsuits were dismissed “without prejudice” and could be reopened at a later date.
The ruling is a major blow to Trump, who has publicly pressured Attorney General Pam Bondi to take legal action against Comey, James and other perceived political opponents.
White House press secretary Abigail Jackson told CNBC in a statement: “The facts of the charges against Mr. Comey and Mr. James have not changed, and this is not the final decision on this matter.”
Bondi later said he would “take all legal action, including an immediate appeal to hold Letitia James and James Comey accountable for their misconduct.”
Harrigan becomes the fourth U.S. attorney deemed to have been improperly appointed by a judge during the second Trump administration.
In an Instagram post celebrating his firing, Comey said his prosecution was “based on malice and incompetence, and is a heartbreaking reflection of the Department of Justice under President Donald Trump.”
“I know that Donald Trump will probably come after me again, and my attitude remains the same. I am innocent, I am not afraid, and I believe in an independent federal judiciary that will protect us from an authoritarian, would-be tyrant,” Comey said.
Mr. Harrigan’s office declined to comment on Mr. Curry’s sentence. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
“I am encouraged by today’s victory and grateful for the prayers and support I have received from across the country,” James said in a statement after his dismissal. “I remain fearless in the face of these baseless accusations and continue to fight for New Yorkers every day.”
Comey was indicted in late September on charges of false statements and obstruction stemming from Congressional testimony several years ago.
James was indicted in mid-October on charges of bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution in connection with a mortgage he obtained to purchase a home in 2020.
Both men had asked the judge in their respective cases to drop the charges on the grounds that they were being brought in retaliation.
The indictment against Comey, a longtime target of President Trump’s ire, came days before the five-year statute of limitations was set to expire on Sept. 30.
Mr. Curry’s ruling suggested that Mr. Comey’s statute of limitations remains in effect. In a footnote, the judge cited a ruling in another case that said, “An invalid indictment…cannot serve to stop the door of limitations that is closing.”
The accusations against Comey come less than a week after Bondi appointed Harrigan as interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia at the behest of President Trump.
The district’s previous U.S. attorney, Eric Siebert, resigned after reportedly expressing concern about pursuing charges against Comey and publicly saying that Trump wanted Siebert fired.
In addition to violating the Constitution, Mr. Curry ruled that Mr. Harrigan’s appointment violated the statutory system for appointing interim U.S. attorneys.
The law gives the attorney general 120 days to make an interim appointment, and Siebert’s appointment on January 21 was the trigger, the judge wrote.
When that clock expires on May 21, “so does the attorney general’s appointment authority,” Curry ruled.
Therefore, Mr. Harrigan has been “unlawfully serving in that role” since his appointment on September 22, Mr. Curry wrote.
The judge noted that in both cases, Harrigan was the only prosecutor to present information to the grand jury that ultimately returned the indictments.
Abby Rowell, James’ attorney, said she would contest “any politically motivated accusations” from the Trump administration.
“Because career prosecutors refused, the president took the extreme step of making these baseless accusations on behalf of one of his supporters,” Lowell said in a statement. “This lawsuit was not about justice or the law, it was about targeting what Attorney General James stood for and who he challenged.”
