A federal judge has dismissed the criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, concluding that the prosecutor who brought the charges at President Donald Trump's urging was illegally appointed by the Justice Department. The rulings from U.S. District Cameron McGowan Currie amount to a stunning rebuke of the Trump administration's efforts to target Trump's political opponents as well as its legal maneuvering to hastily install a loyalist prosecutor willing to file the cases.
Comey is represented by former federal prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald and experienced criminal defense attorney Jessica Nicole Carmichael. According to The New York Times, Comey's attorneys plan to file motions to dismiss the case as malicious prosecution, as well as challenging Halligan's appointment. District Judge Michael S. Nachmanoff, a Biden appointee, was assigned to the case and set the trial date for January 5, 2026.
The former head of the FBI [James Comey] has been accused of lying to Congress. There's one point I want to make, she said. And that is that there is nobody who has lied more to Congress than Donald Trump, and that's why I tore up his speech because it was a manifesto of lies. And I said that at the time. So it's so cute almost that he's accusing somebody of lying to Congress.
Former FBI Director James Comey has pleaded not guilty to charges of false statements and obstructing a congressional proceeding. Comey entered his plea via his lawyer Pat Fitzgerald during his arraignment in federal court on Wednesday in Alexandria, Va. The judge on the case set a trial date of January 5, 2026 and Comey is set to be released with no conditions.
Live updatesLive updates, Former FBI Director James Comey appears in federal court to face criminal charges, marking the first prosecution by the Justice Department against one of President Donald Trump's political enemies. James Comey, the former director of the FBI, has appeared in a federal court near Washington, DC, where he will be arraigned on charges of lying to a US Senate panel.
Comey had led the FBI's investigation into Russian election meddling in 2016, and Trump had asked the Justice Department to pursue Comey. Former FBI director James ComeyImage: Brendan Smialowski/AFP Former FBI director James Comey pleaded not guilty at an arraignment at a federal courthouse in Virginia on Wednesday on charges filed by the US Justice Department that he lied to Congress in 2020.
The former FBI director James Comey is set to make his first appearance in court on Wednesday in connection with federal charges that he lied to Congress in 2020. Comey will be booked and fingerprinted, which is normal practice for defendants, at the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia, before being arraigned and formally read the charges against him by US district judge Michael Nachmanoff.
John Durham the former special counsel appointed during President Donald Trump's first term to investigate the origins of the Russia probe undercut the Trump DOJ's case against former FBI Director James Comey, a new report revealed Monday. According to ABC News, Durham spoke with prosecutors in August and told them that during the course of his nearly four-year long special counsel investigation, he could not uncover any evidence in support of charges against Comey for obstruction of false statements.
You know, I'm not a fan of James Comey because of what happened in 16. Okay? Steele began. That's then. But the reality of it is you don't want the system ever to be weaponized against anyone, regardless of what they may have done in the past or what you may have thought of their actions in the past. He warned that the spectacle spoke to something far more corrosive and called for vigilance:
James Comey disgraced the FBI by writing love letters' to the ADL and embedding agents with an extreme group functioning like a terrorist organization and the disgraceful operation they ran spying on Americans, Patel said. That was not law enforcement, it was activism dressed up as counterterrorism, and it put Americans in danger. He added, That era is finished. This FBI formally rejects Comey's policies and any partnership with the ADL.
Andy has been the most consistent defender of bad DOJ behavior going all the way back to his FISA court defenses in 2017. His analysis on the politics of this situation is about as good as his 2024 prediction, Domenech wrote about McCarthy. Andy has been the most consistent defender of bad DOJ behavior going all the way back to his FISA court defenses in 2017. His analysis on the politics of this situation is about as good as his 2024 prediction. https://t.co/BT2aCQ5vI7 Benjamin Domenech (@bdomenech) September 26, 2025
I just think everything you mentioned there doesn't mean he lied to Congress, or that they'll be able to secure a conviction. But I do want to ask, because in 2020, you warned that prosecutors should be dedicated to the truth, not looking for high-profile skins and acting out of political animus. The President made very clear here that, that he wanted this to happen. I mean, he explicitly said it, over the weekend.
Troy A. Edwards Jr., a national security prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia, stepped down Thursday night with a brief note to his boss. To uphold my oath to the Constitution and country, I hereby resign as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia in the Department of Justice effective immediately, Edwards wrote in the letter, posted to X.
And what we know about it, Kaitlan, is that Lindsay Halligan, who is the newly installed U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, she is the one who personally presented this to the grand jury, replied Perez. That's not normal. Usually you have career assistant U.S. Attorneys who make these presentations to the grand jury. In this case, we know that there were concerns that were raised by the career lawyers in that office.
