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 Interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan told a judge that the full grand jury who heard evidence against Comey never reviewed the final two-count indictment in the case. Instead, she 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 intent on prosecuting Mr. Comey before the statute of limitations expired directed the appointment of a White House aide, Lindsey Halligan, as interim U.S. Attorney, and she then rushed to secure an indictment while flagrantly violating basic grand jury rules in the process,” Comey’s lawyers argued. “Those grand jury errors warrant dismissal twice over.”
Former FBI Director James Comey speaks during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, June 8, 2017.
Andrew Harnik/AP, FILE
Federal prosecutors reversed course in a legal filing Thursday and claimed that the two-count indictment was, in fact, reviewed by the grand jury. However, Comey’s lawyers argued that the correction “contradicts numerous other representations” and “rests on an erroneous overreading of an ambiguous exchange between the grand jury foreperson and the magistrate judge.”
In the filing Thursday, prosecutors included select portions of the grand jury transcript aiming to prove the indictment was reviewed by the grand jury, but defense lawyers sought to cast doubt on the claim by highlighting earlier concerns about apparent gaps in the transcript.
“Even if the grand jury was in fact presented with the operative indictment, that would only raise a host of additional problems for the government–not least of which is the apparent absence of any recording of that presentment,” Comey’s attorneys said in the filing.
Lindsey Halligan, outside of the White House, Aug. 20, 2025.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP, FILE
Defense lawyers also argued that Halligan made multiple mistakes before the grand jury, including misstating the law, using evidence from flawed search warrants 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’s campaign of retribution against his perceived political foes. Vice President JD Vance has said any such prosecutions are “driven by law and not by politics.”
Halligan, Trump’s handpicked U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, sought the indictment of Comey over the objections of career prosecutors after Trump forced out previous U.S. 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, sought the indictment after Trump, in a social media post, called on Attorney General Pam Bondi to act “NOW!!!” to prosecute Comey, James and Rep. Adam Schiff.