Cases against Comey and James dismissed without prejudice
That last part – without prejudice – is important, at least potentially. It means the cases can be refiled – perhaps. The “perhaps” is because, at least for Comey, the statute of limitations has run out. I cannot find a source that explanations whether that means the clock starts again, or whether it started with the original indictment. Comey’s attorneys will argue that it has run out, of course. But will the argument hold? I suppose it depends on the judge, and then might be appealed to SCOTUS.
Not sure why the case was filed so late, but I assume because there was disagreement about filing it at all, and/or the evidence was still being uncovered. At any rate, the whole thing seems to have been sloppily done, for such an important case. The judge – appointed by Bill Clinton – doesn’t seem to believe the case against Comey can be re-opened, since the original filing becomes invalid.
The stated reason the cases against Comey and Letitia James were thrown out was procedural, and had to do with the appointment of the US attorney:
U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie disqualified interim Lindsey Halligan of the Eastern District of Virginia. …
Comey was indicted for obstruction of proceedings (18 U.S. Code § 1505) related to the Trump-Russia investigation.
James was indicted for bank fraud (18 U.S. Code § 1344) and making false statements to a financial institution (18 U.S. Code § 1014) regarding alleged mortgage fraud.
James accused President Donald Trump of violating Section 546 of Title 28 and the Appointments Clause by appointing Halligan.
Currie wrote:
“In sum, the text, structure, and history of section 546 point to one conclusion: the Attorney General’s authority to appoint an interim U.S. Attorney lasts for a total of 120 days from the date she first invokes section 546 after the departure of a Senate-confirmed U.S. Attorney. If the position remains vacant at the end of the 120-day period, the exclusive authority to make further interim appointments under the statute shifts to the district court, where it remains until the President’s nominee is confirmed by the Senate.
“Ms. Halligan was not appointed in a manner consistent with this framework.”
For what it’s worth, I’ve never believed they would be convicted, although it was (and remains) certainly possible. My reason is that Comey in particular was and still is too powerful, and there are too many judges who automatically rule against Trump and the right. Then again, these cases seem to have been rushed and handled in a sloppy manner, as I already stated. However, Trump only has been president since late January and the Comey case would have expired at the end of September, so perhaps it had to be rushed. Turley explains, also, that this decision by Judge Currie can be appealed.
James’ case could be re-filed; I don’t think there’s a statute of limitations problem there. As for Comey, I suppose it’s possible that he could be indicted in a different case – a conspiracy case, perhaps – arising from his behavior, but I wouldn’t sit on a hot stove until that happens. And I will add that the nitty-gritty procedural aspects of law were never my especially strong suit.
I knew this would be the result. I have kind of similar case in Knox County, Nebraska.
DOJ should do it right and indict AG James again.
Harvard grad judge throws out cases against two Harvard grads thanks to the bumbling machinations of state school grads, which were the best trump could find to staff his doj. Sigh. What a mismatch in intelligence and ability.
I looked up what is required to confirm a United States attorney. Apparently, they are not covered by the recent block confirmation rule change, but I’m not sure of that. So one vote is required for each nominee. And apparently there’s still the ridiculous blue slip exception. Here in California there’s a great US attorney for Los Angeles, Bill Essayli. His appointment has not been confirmed and if they follow the blue slip rule, there’s no way they two far left California Senators will approve him.
Can the Maryland senators blue slip the US Attorney in the Comey case?
Skipfarge:
Funny stuff.
Plenty of people here are quite familiar with Harvard and Harvard grads, and that designation does not automatically impress.
So you graduated from Harvard? OK, but please just give me my Coffee, I can’t hang around Micky D’s forever.
Can’t say I had great expectations.
Nonetheless, I say make ’em sweat and put the information out there. It’s not the full measure, but it is a price.
However, I do believe that John Bolton is in trouble.
You can bet that if it was DJT or one of his people under indictment, there would be a way found to get around any statute of limitations – not that such a case would have been dismissed anyway.
Another nail in the coffin for the American justice system (at least in my mind).
You’d think that a man whose bacon was saved in Florida because the previous administration failed to legally appoint the prosecutor might be a little more sensitive about making sure that the prosecutor bringing his retribution indictments would be legally appointed.
You would think. But with Trump, you would be wrong.
Concerned Conservative makes the rulings of another activist judge into another inditement against The Great Orange Whale.
How unexpected (and pathetic).
Not all of these are about activist judges, om. Trump’s administration is playing games with interim US attorney appointments because they want lackeys who can’t be confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate. They got nailed for it.
Lots of things are activist judges. This isn’t one of them.
If it was Biden and his pals filing charges against Trump and Trump supporters, there would not be any district federal court judges dismissing cases.
One thing that has become very obvious over the last several years is that the notion of a non-political, non-biased, just “follow the law,” judiciary is total bullshit.
Judges are politically biased and they will find ways to rule that support their political beliefs and will do so in cahoots with their pals in the DOJ or FBI or within the executive branch. Recall that Alvin Bragg, Letitia James and Fani Willis (or their representatives) visited the White House and/or the Kamala Harris several times.
I would not be surprised, given what is now transpiring and over the last few years, that the case against Joe McCarthy – the anti-communist senator from Wisconsin who was censured by Congress in 1954 – was also a political hit job manufactured by the deep state, such as existed back then.
I never would have thought this just a few short years ago, even after having read “Witness,” by Whittaker Chambers, but these days it’s tough to believe that Washington, DC is not an open sewer whose occupants will circle their wagons to promote any cause to destroy those that threaten them.
Imagine if Biden or Harris or Hillary Clinton had the opportunity to nominate justices for the SCOTUS !!!
The SCOTUS would have several Ketanji Jackson’s on the bench.
Imagine; a president Kamala “Cackling” Harris and two or more Jackson’s on the SCOTUS.
It ain’t over ’til it’s over. Maybe.
_______________________________
During an appearance on Fox News, [White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt] warned the former FBI director to pump the brakes on his victory lap. “Well, what I will say is that everybody knows that James Comey lied to Congress,” Leavitt said. “It’s as clear as day, and this judge took an unprecedented action to throw these cases out to shield James Comey and Letitia James from accountability, based on a technical ruling. And the administration disagrees with that technical ruling. We believe the attorney in this case, Lindsey Halligan, is not only extremely qualified for this position, but she was, in fact, legally appointed. And I know the Department of Justice will be appealing this in very short order. So maybe James Comey should pump the brakes on his victory lap.”
https://pjmedia.com/matt-margolis/2025/11/25/james-comey-and-letitia-james-shouldnt-be-celebrating-yet-n4946374
John Tyler – Did you forget about this?
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/07/15/judge-dismisses-trumps-mar-a-lago-classified-docs-criminal-case-00168231
The thing is so similar that almost hurts. Biden and Garland were playing political games because they didn’t want it to look like their administration was prosecuting their likely opponent in the next election. So they appointed Jack Smith as a purportedly “independent” counsel and had him indict Trump. But they didn’t follow the law and refused to blow their political cover by assigning Jack Smith to work under a properly confirmed US Attorney, and they got burned.
Fast forward a few years. Trump hasn’t had a US Attorney for NDVA confirmed by the Senate. He had a 120-day temporary appointment who refused to indict Comey because the case was too weak. So he fired that guy and purported to make another 120-day temporary appointment of his insurance-litigator personal attorney who had never tried a criminal case before. It turns out, as many pundits noted at the time, that the president gets just one 120-day temporary appointment and can’t just keep serially appointing temporary US attorneys without Senate confirmation. That’s the same problem Biden had! Smith was neither confirmed by the Senate nor working under the direction of another prosecutor who had been. Same with Halligan. Whoops!
So just like Biden, Trump played games about the propriety of prosecutors’ appointments and got burned.
And none of this goes to whether Comey deserves to be prosecuted. The issue is whether there is a viable criminal case to be made against him now, in 2025, after the Statute of Limitations had run for most everything he did during Russiagate. And no matter how much Trump and MAGA want to deny it, the answer to that question is most likely “no.”
I didn’t forget about it. I never read it because it has been obvious since its inception that Politico is nothing but left wing propaganda. Apparently Bauxy hasn’t figured this out yet lol. By the way though I agree with neo that her site is less subject to paid trolls than others (Insty, PowerLine) there may be exceptions.
I’d also be very wary of comparing the two.
It would certainly be
a stretchdishonest to say that the multiple abuses planned and perpetrated by Jack Smith’s (AKA “Biden”) were merely “procedural”.(OTOH, we know how “elastic” “Biden” could be…and continues to be…)
Elastic? Maybe that should be, um, “super—flexible”… Actually “he” was a freakin’ contortionist—double disjointed…a genuine circus freak.
…and continues to be…
+ Bonus (Gaia ain’t happy…)
“Ethiopian Volcano Erupts For First Time In 10,000 Years”—
https://www.zerohedge.com/weather/ethiopian-volcano-erupts-first-time-10000-years
(Pretty sure Greta’s to blame…)
Actually, Zerohedge’s on a roll…
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/absolutely-breathtaking-exposing-censorship-industrial-complexs-power-grip-germany
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/uk-and-canada-lead-wests-descent-digital-authoritarianism
+ Bonus:
https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/mystery-intuition-where-gut-feelings-really-come
+ Happy TG (in spite of it all…)
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/sedition-tradition-american-needs-break
CC™ decides that Trump lawyers must be lackeys and somehow forgets the Blue Slip Rule regarding appointments.
Because, The Great Orange Whale. Pathetic, sad, and expected from CC™.
Barry, thanks for link to The Mystery Of Intuition: Where Gut Feelings Really Come From.
Interesting, as I have seen elsewhere, that we often project our “current” perceptions based on our past sensory memories and recordings.