Clinton judge could toss Tish James and James Comey cases

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A federal judge on Thursday suggested she could toss the charges against ex-FBI boss James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James — and she appeared to agree with claims that the prosecutor who brought the cases is illegitimate.

Alexandria District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie, who was appointed to the bench by former President Bill Clinton, appeared skeptical of several of the government’s arguments about why the appointment of Lindsey Halligan as interim US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia was aboveboard.

Defense attorney Abbe Lowell argued for James — who was not present in court Thursday — that the government’s position on appointments would give the Trump administration the “perpetual ability” to appoint interim US attorneys — bypassing Congress’ sign-off.

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Prosecutor Henry Whitaker later pushed back at the “odd” line of reasoning that Halligan, a lawyer who was on the team defending President Trump against former special counsel Jack Smith’s classified documents case, had no more qualifications than a “private citizen.”

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At the core of the argument is the question of whether the US attorney general — in this case, Pam Bondi — can make multiple interim appointments to fill a US attorney position when the candidate can’t get confirmed by the Senate.

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James and Comey are seeking to have their cases — for bank fraud and lying to Congress, respectively — dismissed on a technicality, claiming Bondi used up her one opportunity to appoint someone to the empty position for a 120-day period when she installed Halligan’s predecessor.

Whitaker countered during Thursday’s hearing, “The attorney general is entitled to multiple 120-day appointments.”

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