Pam Bondi trying to revive cases against James Comey and Tish James despite indictments being tossed
Attorney General Pam Bondi, seeking to revive the criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, is arguing that she can appoint successive acting U.S. attorneys.
The cases were thrown out after a U.S. district judge found that the former interim U.S. attorney for the Easter District of Virginia, Lindsey Halligan, had been unlawfully appointed in violation of the Constitution's appointments clause and laws that govern how U.S. attorney appointments can be made.
Halligan, the court found, was not an "attorney authorized by law" to conduct grand jury proceedings.
In the appeal filed Monday to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche argue that the Justice Department is utilizing the tools Congress gave them to deal with U.S. attorney vacancies.
The defendants were not indicted by Halligan, Bondi and Blanche argue, but were "charged by a group of [their] fellow citizens acting independently of [her]" who found probable cause to believe that they committed federal crimes."
These same arguments were rejected by the district court.
Halligan, a former White House aide, was named interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia after Trump forced out previous interim U.S. attorney Erik Siebert, who sources said had resisted bringing the cases against Comey and James.
In its dismissal of the Comey and James cases, the lower court found that Halligan had been unlawfully appointed because the law doesn't allow the position to be filled by two interim nominees in a row without either Senate confirmation or appointment by the federal judiciary.
Democratic Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner of Virginia issued a joint statement following Halligan's nomination asserting that the White House "never expected" Halligan to be confirmed by the Senate in part because it never arranged a meeting between Halligan and the Virginia senators.
Halligan left the Justice Department on Jan. 20 after U.S. District Judge David Novak threatened disciplinary action against her and any attorneys who appeared with her in pleadings before the court if she continued to improperly use the title of U.S. attorney.
