Charges against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James were thrown out Monday, November 24, 2025, after a federal judge ruled that the Trump Justice Department’s handpicked interim U.S. attorney was unlawfully appointed — a decision that now exposes the deeper disarray unfolding inside the nation’s top law enforcement agency.
Judge Cameron McGowan Currie found that Lindsey Halligan, the interim U.S. attorney who brought the politically charged cases, was never legally installed in her position.
As a result, the indictments against Comey and James — both longtime critics of Donald Trump — had no legal foundation.
“All actions flowing from Ms. Halligan’s defective appointment were unlawful exercises of executive power,” Currie wrote, striking the charges “without prejudice.”
The ruling landed like an earthquake inside an already unsettled Justice Department, where career prosecutors have spent weeks navigating shifting directives, political pressure, and what several insiders have described as “unprecedented confusion” over who is empowered to act.
A DOJ Unraveling
The legal collapse of two of Trump’s most high-profile targets reflects a Justice Department that appears increasingly consumed by internal turmoil.
Following the ruling, prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia — one of the busiest federal jurisdictions in the country — were first told to halt all new filings. Hours later, they were instructed to route filings through First Assistant Robert McBride. Then, in a stunning reversal, they were told to keep listing Halligan—whose appointment the court had just invalidated—on official filings.
“It’s chaos,” one person familiar with the district’s operations said. “Nobody knows who actually has authority.”
The confusion highlights a persistent problem: Halligan was inserted into the role after the Trump administration pushed out her predecessor, part of an escalating push to bring criminal charges against Trump’s perceived enemies, including Comey and James. The judge noted that allowing Halligan to remain would effectively let the administration bypass Senate confirmation indefinitely.
“That cannot be the law,” Currie wrote.
Comey and James Respond
Both Comey and James, who have repeatedly argued that the charges were political in nature, issued statements Monday underscoring the broader stakes.
Comey — who Trump fired in 2017 and has criticized ever since — posted a video calling the prosecution “a reflection of what the Department of Justice has become under Donald Trump: malevolent, incompetent, and heartbreaking.”
He added that career DOJ officials who resisted pressure “preserved their integrity, which is beyond price.”
James, who has battled Trump in court for years, described the ruling as a victory not just for her, but for “the rule of law at a moment when it is being tested.”
“I remain fearless in the face of these baseless charges,” she said.
Political Pressure in Plain Sight
Attorneys for both officials pointed to Trump’s repeated social media demands that Comey, James, and others be prosecuted — including a post declaring them “guilty as hell.”
While the Trump administration insists those public demands were not directives, the timing of Halligan’s appointment — and her rapid-fire indictments of Comey and James — raised red flags among legal experts long before Monday’s ruling.
Judge Currie appeared to agree, writing that accepting the government’s argument would allow the executive branch to install any unconfirmed individual “off the street” to pursue criminal cases.
A Broader Crisis Still Unfolding
Although the indictments were dismissed without prejudice, the government’s path forward is murky. For Comey, the statute of limitations has likely run out. For James, a re-filed case would face enormous legal and political scrutiny.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department remains in limbo. The Deputy Attorney General’s office is scrambling to determine who can legally sign filings, oversee grand juries, and manage ongoing investigations.
Inside the department, frustration is mounting.
“You can’t run the DOJ on guesswork,” a former federal prosecutor said. “But that’s exactly what’s happening.”
For now, the dismissal of the Comey and James cases is more than a legal setback for the Trump administration. It is a window into a Justice Department that appears increasingly destabilized — and a reminder that the battle over political influence inside the nation’s legal system is far from over.
