Trump Administration on the Clock To Revive Prosecutions of Letitia James and James Comey

The Department of Justice will argue on Tuesday that the criminal cases against New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, as well as the former FBI director, James Comey, were wrongfully dismissed. Justice Department attorneys will make that case in oral arguments to the Fourth United States Appeals Circuit, which sits at Richmond. The charges against Mr. Comey and Ms. James were thrown out in November after Judge Cameron McGowan Currie found that the acting United States attorney on the case, Lindsey Halligan, was unlawfully appointed by then-Attorney General Pam Bondi.The government immediately appealed that ruling, which held that the relevant statute does not permit the attorney general to make successive 120-day interim appointments. Ms. Halligan’s predecessor, Erik Siebert, had served a 120-day term and afterwards was reappointed by the federal judges in the Eastern District. Mr. Trump fired him due to his reluctance to bring cases against Mr. Comey, for allegedly lying to Congress, and Ms. James, for alleged bank fraud in connection to a home at Norfolk. Judge Currie dismissed the cases “without prejudice,” meaning the government was free to try to bring them again. Ms. Bondi convened, in short succession, two more grand juries to indict Ms. James. Both declined to hand up charges against New York’s top law enforcement official. Prosecutors never attempted to reindict Mr. Comey, possibly because the statute of limitations expired days after the initial charges were brought.Mr. Comey, though, was charged anew in April for allegedly threatening President Trump’s life last year with an Instagram post that featured seashells arranged in an “86 47” formation. Mr. Comey has pleaded “not guilty” to those charges, and moved to dismiss the case on a range of grounds, including the First Amendment and by denouncing it as a “selective and vindictive” prosecution. If that effort is unsuccessful, trial is set to begin later this month.Unusually among federal appellate courts, the Fourth Circuit does not announce the composition of its panels ahead of time. Of the 15 judges who ride the circuit, eight were appointed by Democrats and six by Republicans. One received appointments from presidents of both parties. Mr. Trump has appointed three of the Fourth Circuit’s judges. Before Ms. Halligan was named a federal prosecutor, she was a personal defense attorney for Mr. Trump and was assigned by him to reimagine the Smithsonian Museums. One hurdle for the Justice Department is a memorandum written in 1986 by a young government lawyer, Samuel Alito, that determined that “The statutory plan discloses a Congressional purpose that after the expiration of the 120-day period further interim appointments are to be made by the court rather than by the Attorney General.” Another challenge for the government is that judges have upheld the disqualification of other of Mr. Trump’s interim prosecutors — Alina Habba of New Jersey, John Sarcone of the Northern District of New York, and Sigal Chattah of Nevada. Judge Currie’s disqualification ruling declared that “all actions flowing from Ms Halligan’s defective appointment, including securing and signing Mr Comey’s indictment, were unlawful exercises of executive power and are hereby set aside.” After that decision Mr. Comey reckoned that the charges were “based on malevolence and incompetence” but predicted that Mr. Trump “will probably come after me again.”After Ms. Halligan was disqualified, she did not immediately withdraw from the Department of Justice. That prompted another federal judge, David Novak — an appointee of Mr. Trump — to thunder that “This charade of Ms. Halligan masquerading as the United States Attorney for this District in direct defiance of binding court orders must come to an end.” “It is inconceivable that the Department of Justice, which holds a duty to faithfully execute the laws of the United States — even those with which it may have disagreement — would repeatedly ignore court orders,” Judge Novak added.Ms. Halligan, who had never prosecuted a felony before this case, subsequently departed from the Justice Department. The government argues in this appeal that even if she was unlawfully appointed, it amounted to a merely “harmless error” that ought not to have led to the dismissal of the criminal charges.

Trump Administration on the Clock To Revive Prosecutions of Letitia James and James Comey

Trump Administration on the Clock To Revive Prosecutions of Letitia James and James Comey

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