The #Trump administration’s attempt to prosecute former FBI Director #JamesComey hit two major snags on Wednesday.

First, interim #USattorney for the Eastern District of Virginia #LindseyHalligan, who brought the #indictment, admitted the entire grand jury did not vote on the final indictment—a shocking development. Instead, only 2 grand jurors reviewed the indictment before it was presented in court.

#law #LegalEthics #LegalProcedure #RevengePolitics

I need to reiterate how batshit crazy this is:

When Trump’s handpicked interim #USAttorney #LindseyHalligan briefly took the stand Wednesday, she said only 2 grand jurors reviewed the final #indictment it handed up against former FBI Director #JamesComey. Comey’s attorney then argued Halligan’s testimony indicates, “there is no indictment” against his client.

#law #LegalEthics #LegalProcedure #RevengePolitics #Trump

The full grand jury never reviewed the indictment it handed up against former FBI Director #JamesComey, interim #USAttorney #LindseyHalligan conceded Wednesday.

In a shocking back & forth, prosecutors said that instead of presenting a new indictment to the grand jury after it declined to approve one of the counts, Halligan simply brought an altered version to the magistrate’s courtroom for the grand jury’s foreperson to sign.

#law #RevengePolitics #Trump

#DOJ lawyer Tyler Lemons argued #JamesComey was making “inferential leaps” in arguing the case is selective & vindictive.

“There’s been no proof that US Attorney Halligan took” Trump’s social media post “as a charge,” Lemons said, referring to #LindseyHalligan, who #Trump to be interim #USAttorney in the Eastern District of Virginia. Halligan presented the case to the grand jury, which handed up the indictment.

#law #RevengePolitics

#JamesComey’s attorney argued Wednesday that #Trump’s Sept social media post pushing the #DOJ to prosecute is a “crystal clear” example of why his client is being charged only because of the president’s personal animosity.

The post, Dreeben, said, linked Comey to 2 other “enemies” of Trump, & portrayed his frustration that interim #USAttorney #LindseyHalligan’s predecessor was resisting bringing charges. Dreeben was referring to Sen #AdamSchiff & NYAG #LetitiaJames.

#law #RevengePolitics

#JayClayton, a former corporate lawyer who served as the #SEC chair during the first #Trump admin, was nominated by the president to be the #USattorney for the #SDNY in January, but his confirmation was blocked by NY’s senior Democratic senator, #ChuckSchumer. Clayton was then appointed on an interim basis in April, & in August, the judges of Manhattan’s Federal District Court appointed him to the post, meaning he could serve for the rest of Trump’s term.

#law #criminal #Epstein #EpsteinFiles

The filing hit many of the same notes as a similar motion filed last month by fmr FBI dir #JamesComey, who is charged w/ lying to Congress & has asked the judge overseeing his case to dismiss it.

Both Comey’s indictment & the one against #LetitiaJames were secured by the same prosecutor— #LindseyHalligan, Eastern District of Virginia interim #USattorney whom #Trump installed in the post after her predecessor, Erik Siebert, refused to move forward with the cases, citing a lack of evidence.

#law