Lawyers for former FBI Director James Comey on Friday moved to dismiss the criminal case against him, arguing that “fundamental errors in the grand jury process” make the indictment “legally flawed.”
The motion comes days after acting U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan told a judge that the full grand jury that heard evidence against Comey never reviewed the final two-count indictment in the case. Instead, he said they reviewed an earlier version that included a charge they rejected.
“Those errors reflect the reckless and ill-conceived nature of this prosecution: A president determined to prosecute Mr. Comey before the statute of limitations expired ordered the appointment of a White House aide, Lindsey Halligan, as acting U.S. Attorney, and she then rushed to secure an indictment while flagrantly violating grand jury ground rules in the process,” Comey’s lawyers argued. “Those grand jury errors justify dismissal twice.”
Former FBI Director James Comey speaks during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on June 8, 2017.
Andrew Harnik/AP, FILE
Federal prosecutors reversed course in a legal filing Thursday, saying the two-count indictment was, in fact, reviewed by the grand jury. However, Comey’s lawyers argued that the correction “contradicts many other representations” and “is based on a misreading of an ambiguous exchange between the grand jury foreman and the judge.”
In Thursday’s filing, prosecutors included select portions of the grand jury transcript aimed at showing that the indictment was reviewed by the grand jury, but defense attorneys attempted to cast doubt on the claim by highlighting previous concerns about apparent gaps in the transcript.
“Even if the operative indictment were in fact presented to the grand jury, that would only raise a number of additional problems for the government, including the apparent absence of any recording of that presentation,” Comey’s lawyers said in the filing.
Lindsey Halligan, outside the White House, August 20, 2025.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP, FILE
Defense attorneys also argued that Halligan made multiple errors before the grand jury, including misstating the law, using faulty search warrant evidence and including information protected by attorney-client privilege.
Comey pleaded not guilty in October to one count of false statements and one count of obstruction of a congressional proceeding related to his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2020, amid what critics call Trump payback campaign against his supposed political enemies. Vice President JD Vance has said that such prosecutions are “driven by law and not politics.”
Halligan, Trump’s hand-picked federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of Virginia, requested the indictment of Comey for the objections from career prosecutors after trump forced out Former US Attorney Erik Siebert, who sources said had resisted bringing cases against Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Halligan, who had no experience as a prosecutor, requested the impeachment after Trump, in a social media post, asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to act “NOW!!!” to prosecute Comey, James and Representative Adam Schiff.
