'Nail in the coffin': Judge uses pro-Trump ruling to throw out Comey and James prosecutions
Judge Aileen Cannon (from Creative Commons)
U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie ruled that U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan was not legitimately appointed to her position and, as such, all of her cases, like those against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, are dismissed "without prejudice." The judge cited the legal precedent set by President Donald Trump's own case.
In Florida, Judge Aileen Cannon ruled in U.S. v. Trump that the U.S. Senate did not appoint special counsel Jack Smith and, as such, was not a legitimately appointed prosecutor. She then dismissed the case involving the classified documents.
"So that is the nail in the coffin," CNN's Katelyn Polantz explained. Both cases have the same problem, with Halligan, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Halligan was "placed there on an interim basis" after the previous U.S. attorney said there was not enough evidence to charge James or Comey.
The last remark in the court decision is "invalidating the acts performed by Ms. Halligan and dismissing the indictments, returning Ms. James to the status she occupied before being indicted. Which was not being an employee of the Justice Department, she was an employee of the White House."
"The judge in this case is saying that James and Comey ... cannot face these charges because the prosecutor was invalid and is basing that largely upon the Trump case," she added. "So, a really interesting correlation there."
