A federal judge Monday dismissed mortgage fraud charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James after ruling that the prosecutor in the case, interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan, was unlawfully appointed.
U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie ruled that the Department of Justice can seek a new indictment against James — if it’s brought by a lawfully appointed prosecutor.
“This case presents the unique, if not unprecedented, situation where an unconstitutionally appointed prosecutor, exercising ‘power she did not lawfully possess,’ … acted alone in conducting a grand jury proceeding and securing an indictment,” Currie ruled.
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But in dismissing another case brought by Halligan against former FBI director James Comey, Currie indicated that the statute of limitations has expired and the government would be barred from refiling it.
“I’m grateful that the court ended the case against me, which was a prosecution based on malevolence and incompetence and a reflection of what the Department of Justice has become under Donald Trump, which is heartbreaking,” Comey said on Instagram.
“I know that the Department of Justice intends to appeal these rulings very soon, if they haven’t already,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday.
Halligan was the Trump administration’s pick to replace Erik Siebert, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, who resigned on Sept. 20 after Trump publicly pressured him to bring charges against James and Comey.
James’ attorneys argued that Halligan was a member of a “Trump-directed quartet” that “engaged in outrageous conduct” to indict her on baseless allegations of mortgage fraud.
Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte has referred three other perceived enemies of the Trump administration — Sen. Adam Schiff, Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook and Rep. Eric Swalwell — to the Department of Justice for investigation of mortgage fraud.
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