DOJ set to appeal Comey and James dismissals

When Interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan was appointed, it created a major legal problem for the Department of Justice. Halligan was never a legal appointment, and since she was the one to indict former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, the indictments were not valid.

The cases were dismissed, but now Attorney General Pam Bondi is throwing a Hail Mary, appealing the cases to try to get the indictments back in play.

Cases Dismissed

There is a rule regarding Interim US Attorneys in that they can only be appointed within 120 days of taking office.

When Erik Seibert was forced to resign, and Halligan was named to take his place, that 120-day window had expired, so her appointment was legally invalid.

U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie cited this rule, dismissing the case.

Judge Carrie stated, "Because Ms. Halligan had no lawful authority to present the indictment, I will grant Mr. Comey's motion and dismiss the indictment without prejudice.”

Not Charging

Bondi knows it will be all but impossible to win an appeal, so she decided to test the waters by getting a new indictment against James.

That effort failed in early December, leaving Bondi with only the option to appeal if she wants to continue to go after James and Comey.

James celebrated the ruling, stating, "As I have said from the start, the charges against me are baseless. It is time for this unchecked weaponization of our justice system to stop."

Her attorney, Abbe Lowell, called the ruling "a decisive rejection of a case that should never have existed in the first place.”

Let’s Dance

Fast forward a few weeks, and now Bondi is going to appeal the original dismissal, but I just don’t see how she can win this case, as the appointment guidelines are very clear.

Here is the problem. The statute of limitations has run out on Comey’s case, so there is not even the option of trying to re-present that case. Then there was the failure to get a new indictment against James.

This, to me, is the product of extremely sloppy work by Bondi. She took way too long to try to get an indictment against Comey (the indictment was filed only days before the statute of limitations ran out), and they played games with the James grand jury to get the indictment in the first place.

I also do not understand why Bondi did not explain the appointment rule to Trump before pressuring Seibert to step down. The only possible explanation is that Trump told her he did not care, and for her to press forward. Regardless, this appeal will lose, and Bondi is going to be looking across the table at a very angry man who wanted these people brought to justice.