Former FBI Director James Comey said Monday that he expects President Donald Trump to continue targeting him after a federal judge threw out the criminal indictment against him. The judge ruled that Trump’s handpicked prosecutor had no lawful authority to bring the case.
In a video posted to Instagram shortly after the decision, Comey said he was “grateful that the court ended the case against me, which was a prosecution based on malevolence and incompetence.”
He described the indictment as “a reflection of what the Department of Justice has become under Donald Trump, which is heartbreaking,” adding that he remains “not afraid” despite anticipating future attempts to pursue him. “A message has to be sent that the president cannot use the Department of Justice to target his political enemies,” Comey said. “I know that Donald Trump will probably come after me again.”
Senior U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, dismissed the indictments against Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James on Monday after concluding that Lindsey Halligan, Trump’s former personal lawyer-turned-rookie federal prosecutor, was unlawfully installed as interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. James likewise said she “remains fearless” in a brief statement following the case dismissal.
The White House continued to defend Halligan’s appointment on Monday.
“Lindsey Halligan was legally appointed, and that is the administration’s position,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Monday.
Currie found that Halligan’s rapid appointment violated 28 U.S.C. § 546, a federal statute governing U.S. Attorney vacancies, as well as the Constitution’s Appointments Clause. Her ruling emphasized that Halligan’s elevation bypassed the legal procedures required by Congress.
“The implications of a contrary conclusion are extraordinary,” Currie wrote. “It would mean the Government could send any private citizen off the street — attorney or not — into the grand jury room to secure an indictment so long as the Attorney General gives her approval after the fact. That cannot be the law.”
Currie invalidated every action Halligan took, including securing and signing both indictments, and ruled that Attorney General Pam Bondi’s attempts to retroactively ratify Halligan’s role were ineffective. The indictments were dismissed without prejudice, allowing the Justice Department to revive the cases under a lawfully appointed prosecutor.
For now, it remains unclear whether the department will appeal the ruling — a move that could reinstate Halligan’s authority if successful — or whether it will instead attempt to refile the charges. Under Currie’s ruling, any new interim U.S. attorney must be selected by the federal judiciary unless and until Trump nominates a permanent replacement who is confirmed by the Senate.
Comey was accused of lying to Congress in 2020 about whether he authorized subordinates to disclose internal FBI information during the Crossfire Hurricane fallout. In early filings, Halligan revealed evidence showing that Comey had privately directed former Columbia Law School professor Daniel Richman, who was previously a special government employee, to share details from Comey’s memos with the media, and she suggested that the pair had coordinated more extensively than previously known.
The dismissal triggered a swift response from several Democratic lawmakers, while Republicans were slow to respond aside from the White House.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) wrote on X that Trump’s “November of losing continues,” adding, “Is this what he meant by ‘getting tired of winning’?” Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) said it was “always a relief when a branch of government does their job,” calling the ruling a win for both Comey and James, “but ALSO the American people!”
Mike Davis, the former chief counsel of nomination to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and a prominent Trump ally, argued there was “overwhelming evidence” pointing to Comey and James’s guilt and slammed U.S. District Judge Michael Nachmanoff, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, for handing the removal effort to a “Clinton judge.”
There is overwhelming evidence former FBI Director James Comey lied to Congress and obstructed a Senate investigation into Crossfire Hurricane—the biggest scandal in American history.
There is overwhelming evidence New York Attorney General Tish James lied on her mortgage… pic.twitter.com/sDDwe8vDHx
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Mike Davis
“The first sentence in both nearly identical orders, in which the Clinton judge personally and gratuitously attacks Lindsey Halligan, makes it crystal clear this judge is a Democrat partisan,” Davis said, referring to Currie’s decision to highlight how Halligan had “no prior prosecutorial experience” at the top of her written orders.
Davis has also raised public awareness of a potential conspiracy case that could soon be opened up in South Florida related to an effort to investigate former top government officials who propagated the Trump-Russia collusion narrative during Trump’s first term. He has pointed to a grand jury slated to form in Fort Pierce federal court in early January. Earlier this month, as many as 30 subpoenas related to the inquiry were issued against figures including former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI officials Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, and others, Fox News reported.
The DOJ “must move aggressively to bring charges against the Lawfare Democrats in Fort Pierce, Florida,” Davis said Monday.
Halligan is one of several Trump-appointed prosecutors who lack confirmation in the Senate to have their appointments rejected by federal courts, following similar rulings blocking Alina Habba in New Jersey, Sigal Chattah in Nevada, and Bill Essayli in California.
The DOJ has not indicated whether it intends to appeal or seek new indictments.