James Comey Indictment

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard it also came out that there was some period of time that she was alone with the GJ without a court reporter present, so the record is incomplete. This is a very big no-no.

It sounds like the judge is not inclined to see her appointment as proper, and since she couldn’t find anyone to appear with her and sign the indictment with her, that would make Comey’s indictment over and done with as the SOL has run.

Incredible lack of professionalism from the Hooligan. Can’t believe Bondi didn’t even help her to do better.

This sounds significant. For non criminal lawyers, can you explain more about what happened and what it means? TIA.

If her appointment is faulty, and she is the only attorney who signed the indictment and presented the evidence to the grand jury which caused them to issue a true bill of indictment, then it is like she is a man off the street who had no legal authority to be in that room with the grand jurors and the indictment is rendered null and void. In Comey’s case, she presented the case to the grand jury the very last day before the SOL = statute of limitations ran out. This means the case would be dead, because you cannot get a do-over on the SOL, it’s a line in the sand.

A special federal judge was brought up from one of the Carolinas (I think?) to hear the motions challenging her appointment, because the judges in the EDVA (Eastern District of Virginia) were all deemed conflicted on that issue because they hear all kinds of cases from the office which at present this Hooligan (sorry I don’t respect the pageant US Attorney) leads. From what I’ve heard about the arguments and the judge’s questions of counsel, it sounds like the judge is very skeptical of Hooligan’s appointment.

Why is Hooligan’s appointment being challenged? Because Trump has relied on interim appointments in order to avoid Senate confirmations, and interim appointments are limited to 120 days before they must be confirmed.

The prior US Attorney for EDVA that Trump appointed interim was an actually qualified lawyer who refused to bring the Comey case to a grand jury, instead following the exhaustive memo of the career line prosecutors in the office who set forth in detail all the reasons there was insufficient evidence to charge the case because there was not enough to meet the beyond reasonable doubt standard at trial and it is the ethical mandate of prosecutors to never charge without good faith belief they’ve met that standard. So Trump told that guy resign or be fired, and he resigned.

Trump then put one of his personal lawyers, one with no real criminal experience whatsoever (she was an insurance lawyer before joining his classified documents case team) and who was in charge of removing mentions of slavery and other things Trump doesn’t like from the various Smithsonian institutions and federal agencies, into the position of US Attorney for EDVA, one of the most active districts in the nation. She’s never ever ever prosecuted a single criminal case. And he appointed her as the new interim to replace ethical guy who resigned. And she made a bunch of really bad rookie mistakes handling the case, of course.

But here’s the THING: if an interim goes beyond 120 days and isn’t confirmed and the position becomes vacant, the rules say that the judges get to appoint a new US Attorney, the president/DOJ can’t just put another interim into the job.

AG Eva Blondi has tried to fix this by ‘retroactively’ appointing Hooligan as a special prosecutor- but you can’t do that, either. These people are lawless idiots.

Anyhoo, I think we are likely to hear before turkey day that Hooligan is not a real US Attorney (Bwahahaha! DUH) and Comey’s case in done. Finis.

And they will have to go back and try again with the indictment of Letitia James, using a real prosecutor duly authorized to bring it to a grand jury.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard it also came out that there was some period of time that she was alone with the GJ without a court reporter present, so the record is incomplete. This is a very big no-no.

It sounds like the judge is not inclined to see her appointment as proper, and since she couldn’t find anyone to appear with her and sign the indictment with her, that would make Comey’s indictment over and done with as the SOL has run.

Incredible lack of professionalism from the Hooligan. Can’t believe Bondi didn’t even help her to do better.

This sounds significant. For non criminal lawyers, can you explain more about what happened and what it means? TIA.

If her appointment is faulty, and she is the only attorney who signed the indictment and presented the evidence to the grand jury which caused them to issue a true bill of indictment, then it is like she is a man off the street who had no legal authority to be in that room with the grand jurors and the indictment is rendered null and void. In Comey’s case, she presented the case to the grand jury the very last day before the SOL = statute of limitations ran out. This means the case would be dead, because you cannot get a do-over on the SOL, it’s a line in the sand.

A special federal judge was brought up from one of the Carolinas (I think?) to hear the motions challenging her appointment, because the judges in the EDVA (Eastern District of Virginia) were all deemed conflicted on that issue because they hear all kinds of cases from the office which at present this Hooligan (sorry I don’t respect the pageant US Attorney) leads. From what I’ve heard about the arguments and the judge’s questions of counsel, it sounds like the judge is very skeptical of Hooligan’s appointment.

Why is Hooligan’s appointment being challenged? Because Trump has relied on interim appointments in order to avoid Senate confirmations, and interim appointments are limited to 120 days before they must be confirmed.

The prior US Attorney for EDVA that Trump appointed interim was an actually qualified lawyer who refused to bring the Comey case to a grand jury, instead following the exhaustive memo of the career line prosecutors in the office who set forth in detail all the reasons there was insufficient evidence to charge the case because there was not enough to meet the beyond reasonable doubt standard at trial and it is the ethical mandate of prosecutors to never charge without good faith belief they’ve met that standard. So Trump told that guy resign or be fired, and he resigned.

Trump then put one of his personal lawyers, one with no real criminal experience whatsoever (she was an insurance lawyer before joining his classified documents case team) and who was in charge of removing mentions of slavery and other things Trump doesn’t like from the various Smithsonian institutions and federal agencies, into the position of US Attorney for EDVA, one of the most active districts in the nation. She’s never ever ever prosecuted a single criminal case. And he appointed her as the new interim to replace ethical guy who resigned. And she made a bunch of really bad rookie mistakes handling the case, of course.

But here’s the THING: if an interim goes beyond 120 days and isn’t confirmed and the position becomes vacant, the rules say that the judges get to appoint a new US Attorney, the president/DOJ can’t just put another interim into the job.

AG Eva Blondi has tried to fix this by ‘retroactively’ appointing Hooligan as a special prosecutor- but you can’t do that, either. These people are lawless idiots.

Anyhoo, I think we are likely to hear before turkey day that Hooligan is not a real US Attorney (Bwahahaha! DUH) and Comey’s case in done. Finis.

And they will have to go back and try again with the indictment of Letitia James, using a real prosecutor duly authorized to bring it to a grand jury.

Wow. Thank you very much for explaining this so clearly. But somehow not surprising that Trump screwed up yet another aspect of governing.
PP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard it also came out that there was some period of time that she was alone with the GJ without a court reporter present, so the record is incomplete. This is a very big no-no.

It sounds like the judge is not inclined to see her appointment as proper, and since she couldn’t find anyone to appear with her and sign the indictment with her, that would make Comey’s indictment over and done with as the SOL has run.

Incredible lack of professionalism from the Hooligan. Can’t believe Bondi didn’t even help her to do better.

This sounds significant. For non criminal lawyers, can you explain more about what happened and what it means? TIA.

If her appointment is faulty, and she is the only attorney who signed the indictment and presented the evidence to the grand jury which caused them to issue a true bill of indictment, then it is like she is a man off the street who had no legal authority to be in that room with the grand jurors and the indictment is rendered null and void. In Comey’s case, she presented the case to the grand jury the very last day before the SOL = statute of limitations ran out. This means the case would be dead, because you cannot get a do-over on the SOL, it’s a line in the sand.

A special federal judge was brought up from one of the Carolinas (I think?) to hear the motions challenging her appointment, because the judges in the EDVA (Eastern District of Virginia) were all deemed conflicted on that issue because they hear all kinds of cases from the office which at present this Hooligan (sorry I don’t respect the pageant US Attorney) leads. From what I’ve heard about the arguments and the judge’s questions of counsel, it sounds like the judge is very skeptical of Hooligan’s appointment.

Why is Hooligan’s appointment being challenged? Because Trump has relied on interim appointments in order to avoid Senate confirmations, and interim appointments are limited to 120 days before they must be confirmed.

The prior US Attorney for EDVA that Trump appointed interim was an actually qualified lawyer who refused to bring the Comey case to a grand jury, instead following the exhaustive memo of the career line prosecutors in the office who set forth in detail all the reasons there was insufficient evidence to charge the case because there was not enough to meet the beyond reasonable doubt standard at trial and it is the ethical mandate of prosecutors to never charge without good faith belief they’ve met that standard. So Trump told that guy resign or be fired, and he resigned.

Trump then put one of his personal lawyers, one with no real criminal experience whatsoever (she was an insurance lawyer before joining his classified documents case team) and who was in charge of removing mentions of slavery and other things Trump doesn’t like from the various Smithsonian institutions and federal agencies, into the position of US Attorney for EDVA, one of the most active districts in the nation. She’s never ever ever prosecuted a single criminal case. And he appointed her as the new interim to replace ethical guy who resigned. And she made a bunch of really bad rookie mistakes handling the case, of course.

But here’s the THING: if an interim goes beyond 120 days and isn’t confirmed and the position becomes vacant, the rules say that the judges get to appoint a new US Attorney, the president/DOJ can’t just put another interim into the job.

AG Eva Blondi has tried to fix this by ‘retroactively’ appointing Hooligan as a special prosecutor- but you can’t do that, either. These people are lawless idiots.

Anyhoo, I think we are likely to hear before turkey day that Hooligan is not a real US Attorney (Bwahahaha! DUH) and Comey’s case in done. Finis.

And they will have to go back and try again with the indictment of Letitia James, using a real prosecutor duly authorized to bring it to a grand jury.

Thanks for the explanation, with panache.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I heard it also came out that there was some period of time that she was alone with the GJ without a court reporter present, so the record is incomplete. This is a very big no-no.

It sounds like the judge is not inclined to see her appointment as proper, and since she couldn’t find anyone to appear with her and sign the indictment with her, that would make Comey’s indictment over and done with as the SOL has run.

Incredible lack of professionalism from the Hooligan. Can’t believe Bondi didn’t even help her to do better.

Yup this is really weird.

[Anonymous]

Everything about this prosecution is sloppy and strange.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard it also came out that there was some period of time that she was alone with the GJ without a court reporter present, so the record is incomplete. This is a very big no-no.

It sounds like the judge is not inclined to see her appointment as proper, and since she couldn’t find anyone to appear with her and sign the indictment with her, that would make Comey’s indictment over and done with as the SOL has run.

Incredible lack of professionalism from the Hooligan. Can’t believe Bondi didn’t even help her to do better.

Yup this is really weird.

Former AUSA here. That’s not necessarily weird. It depends on what, if anything, happened during that time. I’ve certainly gone into the GJ room to set up my laptop and materials while the court reporter took a bathroom break. There’s nothing inherently wrong with a prosecutor being present in the GJ room for short periods of time (and even having non-substantive conversations with the grand jurors) without a court reporter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard it also came out that there was some period of time that she was alone with the GJ without a court reporter present, so the record is incomplete. This is a very big no-no.

It sounds like the judge is not inclined to see her appointment as proper, and since she couldn’t find anyone to appear with her and sign the indictment with her, that would make Comey’s indictment over and done with as the SOL has run.

Incredible lack of professionalism from the Hooligan. Can’t believe Bondi didn’t even help her to do better.

Yup this is really weird.

Former AUSA here. That’s not necessarily weird. It depends on what, if anything, happened during that time. I’ve certainly gone into the GJ room to set up my laptop and materials while the court reporter took a bathroom break. There’s nothing inherently wrong with a prosecutor being present in the GJ room for short periods of time (and even having non-substantive conversations with the grand jurors) without a court reporter.

Apparently the missing portion includes her instructions to the grand jury. https://www.emptywheel.net/2025/11/13/lindsey-halligans-six-times-18-minute-gap/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard it also came out that there was some period of time that she was alone with the GJ without a court reporter present, so the record is incomplete. This is a very big no-no.

It sounds like the judge is not inclined to see her appointment as proper, and since she couldn’t find anyone to appear with her and sign the indictment with her, that would make Comey’s indictment over and done with as the SOL has run.

Incredible lack of professionalism from the Hooligan. Can’t believe Bondi didn’t even help her to do better.

Yup this is really weird.

Former AUSA here. That’s not necessarily weird. It depends on what, if anything, happened during that time. I’ve certainly gone into the GJ room to set up my laptop and materials while the court reporter took a bathroom break. There’s nothing inherently wrong with a prosecutor being present in the GJ room for short periods of time (and even having non-substantive conversations with the grand jurors) without a court reporter.

Apparently the missing portion includes her instructions to the grand jury. https://www.emptywheel.net/2025/11/13/lindsey-halligans-six-times-18-minute-gap/

Instructions to the grand jurors would definitely fall into the category of substantive conversation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard it also came out that there was some period of time that she was alone with the GJ without a court reporter present, so the record is incomplete. This is a very big no-no.

It sounds like the judge is not inclined to see her appointment as proper, and since she couldn’t find anyone to appear with her and sign the indictment with her, that would make Comey’s indictment over and done with as the SOL has run.

Incredible lack of professionalism from the Hooligan. Can’t believe Bondi didn’t even help her to do better.

Yup this is really weird.

Former AUSA here. That’s not necessarily weird. It depends on what, if anything, happened during that time. I’ve certainly gone into the GJ room to set up my laptop and materials while the court reporter took a bathroom break. There’s nothing inherently wrong with a prosecutor being present in the GJ room for short periods of time (and even having non-substantive conversations with the grand jurors) without a court reporter.

Apparently the missing portion includes her instructions to the grand jury. https://www.emptywheel.net/2025/11/13/lindsey-halligans-six-times-18-minute-gap/

Instructions to the grand jurors would definitely fall into the category of substantive conversation.

What a circus! The Trump administration is excruciatingly incompetent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard it also came out that there was some period of time that she was alone with the GJ without a court reporter present, so the record is incomplete. This is a very big no-no.

It sounds like the judge is not inclined to see her appointment as proper, and since she couldn’t find anyone to appear with her and sign the indictment with her, that would make Comey’s indictment over and done with as the SOL has run.

Incredible lack of professionalism from the Hooligan. Can’t believe Bondi didn’t even help her to do better.

Yup this is really weird.

Former AUSA here. That’s not necessarily weird. It depends on what, if anything, happened during that time. I’ve certainly gone into the GJ room to set up my laptop and materials while the court reporter took a bathroom break. There’s nothing inherently wrong with a prosecutor being present in the GJ room for short periods of time (and even having non-substantive conversations with the grand jurors) without a court reporter.

Apparently the missing portion includes her instructions to the grand jury. https://www.emptywheel.net/2025/11/13/lindsey-halligans-six-times-18-minute-gap/

Instructions to the grand jurors would definitely fall into the category of substantive conversation.

I’m the former AUSA poster. This requires a little bit of context. Rule 6 of the Federal Rules does require that all proceedings in the GJ be recorded either by a court reporter or recording device. However, the government typically only produces in discovery the transcripts of actual witness testimony. That is to say, the prosecutor’s introductory statements, summation, and any legal instructions are recorded, but the government doesn’t usually have them transcribed and produced in discovery.

It is totally reasonable for the judge to order the production of these materials, but I don’t think the lack of production, by itself, is indicative of misconduct.

(I think the prosecution is BS, but I think it’s important that people understand the criminal process.)

[Anonymous]

And in today's episode of "That Moron HAlligan Gets Punted Again", grand jury transcripts to be turned over to Comey and the defense.

"For the reasons set forth
below, the Court finds the record in this case requires the full disclosure of grand jury materials.
In so finding, the Court recognizes this is an extraordinary remedy, but given the factually based
challenges the defense has raised to the government’s conduct and the prospect that government
misconduct may have tainted the grand jury proceedings, disclosure of grand jury materials under
these unique circumstances is necessary to fully protect the rights of the accused. ""

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.vaed.582136/gov.uscourts.vaed.582136.191.0.pdf

Eventually, I'll feel sorry for the poor woman. Eventually.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And in today's episode of "That Moron HAlligan Gets Punted Again", grand jury transcripts to be turned over to Comey and the defense.

"For the reasons set forth
below, the Court finds the record in this case requires the full disclosure of grand jury materials.
In so finding, the Court recognizes this is an extraordinary remedy, but given the factually based
challenges the defense has raised to the government’s conduct and the prospect that government
misconduct may have tainted the grand jury proceedings, disclosure of grand jury materials under
these unique circumstances is necessary to fully protect the rights of the accused. ""

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.vaed.582136/gov.uscourts.vaed.582136.191.0.pdf

Eventually, I'll feel sorry for the poor woman. Eventually.

And to think I still have nightmares about not studying for a math test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And in today's episode of "That Moron HAlligan Gets Punted Again", grand jury transcripts to be turned over to Comey and the defense.

"For the reasons set forth
below, the Court finds the record in this case requires the full disclosure of grand jury materials.
In so finding, the Court recognizes this is an extraordinary remedy, but given the factually based
challenges the defense has raised to the government’s conduct and the prospect that government
misconduct may have tainted the grand jury proceedings, disclosure of grand jury materials under
these unique circumstances is necessary to fully protect the rights of the accused. ""

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.vaed.582136/gov.uscourts.vaed.582136.191.0.pdf

Eventually, I'll feel sorry for the poor woman. Eventually.

Not this former prosecutor, not ever. Hooligan knew exactly what she was getting into and despite being wholly unqualified, she jumped at the chance to take her shot at trying to destroy some lives with unethical prosecutions. She should be disbarred.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And in today's episode of "That Moron HAlligan Gets Punted Again", grand jury transcripts to be turned over to Comey and the defense.

"For the reasons set forth
below, the Court finds the record in this case requires the full disclosure of grand jury materials.
In so finding, the Court recognizes this is an extraordinary remedy, but given the factually based
challenges the defense has raised to the government’s conduct and the prospect that government
misconduct may have tainted the grand jury proceedings, disclosure of grand jury materials under
these unique circumstances is necessary to fully protect the rights of the accused. ""

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.vaed.582136/gov.uscourts.vaed.582136.191.0.pdf

Eventually, I'll feel sorry for the poor woman. Eventually.

This is truly incredible. It looks like what happened here is that Lindsay took a three-count indictment to the GJ and got no-billed on one of the counts. She then created a new indictment with two counts and submitted that to the judge as the true bill indictment without ever taking it back to the GJ. And since the foreperson's signature is on the new two-count indictment, it appears she somehow forged it or did a cut and paste job from the original no-billed indictment!

[Anonymous]

You should read the entire opinion. From Halligan making "two fundamental misstatements of law" to the grand jury (including suggesting that Comey had no 5th amendment rights against self-incromination) to the court demonstrating that the government claim that they produced the entire GJ transcript was a near certain lie to the dozen factual reasons why the GJ transcripts should be turned over.

The Bondi/Blanche ship is sinking fast on this.