The grand jury that charged former FBI Director James Comey never saw the version of the indictment that interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan signed and that was delivered to the judge, the government acknowledged Wednesday in an extraordinary concession that could nullify the indictment.
Halligan initially presented a three-count indictment, and the grand jury rejected one of those counts, lawyers for the Justice Department told U.S. District Judge Michael Nachmanoff in a tense hearing. Rather than drafting and presenting a new two-count indictment to the full grand jury, Halligan simply printed a new version without presenting it.
Nachmanoff went on to question how the second version was signed by the jury’s foreperson if the full grand jury was not present.
Halligan, who did not speak during the hearing until called on by the judge to confirm what happened, admitted that only the foreperson and another grand juror were present for the signing of the second version, and that she never presented it as a new indictment.
Notably, the second version of the indictment has the signature of the grand jury foreperson in a different ink color. And the judge signed that.
The courtroom, including the judge, was stunned into silence upon hearing Halligan’s admission.
Comey attorney Michael Dreeben then argued that the judge should throw out the case, and that he didn’t even need to dismiss the indictment because, for intents and purposes, “there is no indictment.” The indictment returned in court contains two charges against Comey: lying to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding. He has pleaded not guilty and is challenging the indictment on multiple grounds, including whether Halligan was lawfully appointed. Halligan, a former personal attorney for President Donald Trump who has no prosecutorial experience, was appointed to lead the Eastern District of Virginia days before the grand jury handed up the indictment, which Trump had openly called for. She presented the case to the grand jury by herself, a conspicuous departure from standard Justice Department procedures. This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Erum Salam is a breaking news reporter and producer for MS NOW. She previously was a breaking news reporter for The Guardian.
Fallon Gallagher is a legal affairs reporter for MS NOW. Recommended
