Lawyers are amazed at the shocking incompetence of Trump’s Department of Justice.
Legal Bombshell
Under sharp questioning by U.S. District Judge Michael Nachmanov, Donald Trump’s former lawyer turned first-time prosecutor Lindsey Halligan admitted that the full grand jury never saw the document that became Comey’s indictment.
I hate using the word bombshell because most articles with that word are nothing but hype. I asked my attorney friend if the word applied and he commented …
Yep. Bombshell. It’s the grand jury’s indictment, not the prosecutor’s. The grand jury is not only supposed to review the charges, they are supposed to vote on it.
Here, the prosecutor says the grand jury never even saw THEIR indictment. I’ve never even heard of such a thing.
I can’t imagine how this indictment can survive. And now the statute of limitations has run out, so it’s game over.
Huge Flabbergasting Development
There never was an indictment. That’s what it boils down to.
I have never see two people more gleeful to discuss a case than Harry Litman and Adam Klasfeld discussing the question Was James Comey ever actually indicted? Live with Harry Litman
That’s a video link but it’s not a YouTube so I can’t embed it. Please click tp play the video. It’s a real hoot.
Their glee is not over the pending dismissal, but rather the mind-boggling amazing nature of the enormous mistakes by Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ).
Select Quotes
- Harry: It’s really stunning. … You hear the gasp of the whole silent courtroom that the grand jury never saw the indictment. … Rule 6 is very clear, the 5th amendment is very clear that a grand jury must look at the indictment.
- Adam: Was James Comey ever indicted?
- Harry: The excuses here [by the government] were very embarrassing. Not only was the indictment signed by Mickey Mouse, but the grand jury didn’t see it. Now we have a new wrinkle in this case that we are at the end of statute of limitations. The main thing is this was a whoa flabbergasting moment.
- Adam: I am going to interject here on a particular point. In the first hearing by James Comey, Lindsey Halligan sat at the table and said two words. It was her name, and she got them wrong. She registered her appearance but did not say Lindsey Halligan for the United States. She has not made that mistake again because one of her assistants always introduces her. She usually sits at the table like a mannequin, not saying a word. Today she was forced to say something.
- Harry: … You get stuck in this job and three days later you’re indicting …It’s not even clear Halligan understood the importance [of what the judge was asking] The government will still say that even if they screwed up 18 different ways that the case should not be dismissed. Everything about this case has been handled in a ridiculous comedy of errors. I have never seen such a completely messed up procedure leading to an indictment. … Is there nobody there to give her [Halligan] the most elementary advice? That part is stunning as well.
- Adam: [He starts discussing the existence of a declination memo] The eastern district of Virginia did not want this case brought. And they explained the reasons in a declination memo. Judge Nachmanov tried to elicit from the government whether such a memo existed. Government responded they were not authorized to say by the office of Attorney General.
- Harry: Grievous misstatements of the law.
- Adam: Lindsey Halligan botched burden of proof. She suggested that Comey had the burden to state his case. Halligan told the grand jury that if they did not believe there was sufficient evidence to prosecute, they could assume there was other evidence, perhaps better evidence. Those were the fundamental misstatements of law.
- Harry: It’s such elementary blunder. Could even a rookie do this? It’s not just that Halligan does not know the first thing about prosecutorial practice. She signed on to bring him [Trump] the scalp. The stunning false accounts of the law that she gave were in response to grand jury questions.
- Adam: [incredulous] Halligan after 3 days came to the conclusion that the comments from 2020 by James Comey that referred back to other comments by James Comey from 2017 cried out for prosecution. She was not influenced whatsoever, at all, by the fact that Donald Trump demanded this, publicly and openly. This is a non-parody.
- Harry: It might not be long before this is dismissed.
‘Should Be Immediately Disbarred’
Next please consider ‘Should Be Immediately Disbarred’: Trump-Picked Prosecutor’s Blunder in Comey Case Leaves Experts Stunned
“Lindsey Halligan should be immediately disbarred,” wrote Anthony Michael Kreis, a law professor at the Georgia State College School of Law, in a post on X.
Political and leadership consultant Elizabeth Cronise McLaughlin, a former human rights attorney, also believed that Hallingan should face severe consequences for pushing forward with an indictment that had not been voted on by a full grand jury.
“This should result in the interim US Attorney losing her bar license,” she wrote on Bluesky. “Never, in almost 30 years as an attorney, have I heard of this big of an intentional fuck up before a grand jury.”
Maya Sen, a political scientist at the Harvard Kennedy School, drew a line between the quality of legal competence in the Comey case and a three-judge panel in Texas shooting down the administration’s efforts to redraw Texas’ congressional map as part of a mid-decade gerrymandering scheme.
“High levels of incompetence between this and the DOJ-TX gerrymandering situation,” she wrote on X. “It’s hard to find people with high levels of competence and expertise when maximizing on ideological and personal loyalty, and this is a problem for [Republicans] in the age of educational polarization.”
How Did This Happen?
- Trump does not give a damn about the law.
- Scores of justice department lawyers resigned rather than take such cases.
- US Attorney Pam Bondi finally found someone willing to take the case.
- That person was Lindsey Halligan who has never prosecuted a case.
- Trump floated Halligan for the role in an unusual Truth Social post aimed at Bondi, one day after he forced out U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert from the job.
- Siebert was the lawyer who refused to prosecute Comey, and mentioned in the declination memo.
- The results are hilarious
Hoot of the Day
Trump Truth Social: It is my honor to appoint Lindsey Halligan, who has been serving as Special Assistant to the President at the White House, as United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. Lindsey is a tough, smart, and loyal attorney, who has worked with me for a long time, including in the winning fight against the Weaponization of our Justice System by Crooked Joe Biden and the Radical Left Democrats, which she witnessed firsthand when she stood up for my rights during the Unconstitutional and UnAmerican raid on my home, Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida. As a Partner at the biggest Law Firm in Florida, Lindsey proved herself to be a tremendous trial lawyer, and later represented me (and WON!) in the disgraceful Democrat Documents Hoax, as well as MANY other major, high profile cases. She is extremely intelligent, fearless and, working with Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, has the strength and determination to be absolutely OUTSTANDING in this new and very important role. Congratulations, Lindsey – You will do GREAT things for JUSTICE, Virginia, and our Country! Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP
Trump left off her biggest “talent”.
She was willing to risk disbarment by lying to judges and grand juries to win her first case.
What’s Next?
This case will be dismissed. I doubt Halligan lasts long in the administration. Any bets?
Trump does not like losers and she just lost Trump’s big case.
What Halligan did is so grievously absurd that she should be disbarred. We are talking never before in history things. But perhaps the Bar decision-makers will be too wimpy to take the wrath of Trump.
Regardless, this idiot is now professionally ruined. That’s the first bit of justice regarding the DOJ.
Court Accuses Trump’s Justice Dept of “Reckless Disregard of the Law”
Yesterday, I commented Court Accuses Trump’s Justice Dept of “Reckless Disregard of the Law”
Disturbing Pattern
“The Court recognizes that the relief sought by the defense is rarely granted. However, the record points to a disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps.”
I am not defending Comey. I am attacking the blatantly illegal methods Trump is using to get what he wants.
Apologies offered. I seriously understated the case. “Reckless Disregard of the Law” does not do justice to the absurdity of the Department of Justice actions.
Yesterday, I said “All of these political witch hunts by Trump will implode. Some of them may implode due to a recognizable pattern of Judicial overreach even if there is an actual case.”
Well, that did not take long.
Stupid Lawyers Department
Let’s now return to the Texas Gerrymandering case that went against Trump.
“DOJ Asked Texas to Engage in Unlawful Racial Gerrymandering,” Judge Jeffrey V. Brown, a Trump appointee, wrote for the 2-1 majority. The DOJ is appealing to the Supreme Court.
This was my take: Hoot of the Day: Trump-Appointed Judge Blocks Texas Gerrymandering
The multiple-irony setup is stunning.
The Law Dork has an important snip that I was not aware of. How the Texas Attorney General described the DOJ letter: Legally unsound, baseless, erroneous, ham-fisted, and a mess.
As a result, there is a genuine chance the Supreme Court agrees but lets the California gerrymandering continue. Wouldn’t that be a hoot?
Repeating my statement from yesterday: please reflect on the quality of Trump’s DOJ and Trump’s blatantly illegal lawfare tactics by rookies who have never even prosecuted a case.
New DONJ Acronym Needed
There is no justice, just lawfare. We need to rename the DOJ the DONJ.
DONJ = Department Of No Justice.
Addendum Friend’s Comment
“Across the Board, the DOJ people are idiots. I watched the Harvard argument in Boston and the clown they sent up — I guess they must have thought he was good — was terrible, making a jury argument to a judge. I’ve noted that Sauer — the damn SG, the nation’s top appellate advocate — has defects I would cure early in young lawyers. Bondi is not really a lawyer. Now, this clown. They are just terrible, terrible lawyers. It’s like taking your grocery store’s butcher, giving him a scalpel and telling him to replace that patient’s knee.”
Best Reader Quotes
Quatloo: The incompetence of the Trump administration is breathtaking. But when you have no principles and hire only yes men and women, this is the most likely outcome.
MPO45v2: America voted for a carnival barker as leader and now government is a giant circus run by clowns, carnies, freaks, pretenders, and performers. It makes me wonder if there are any real criminal cases being done at all or is this just Trump’s revenge show.
Dootzie6: He has basically turned the DoJ into his own personal law firm & where competent, credible prosecutors refuse to pursue & resign.
Randocalrissian: Halligan’s willingness to take on this case is more proof for the doubters that this is all happening the way it was predicted. Between this and Bondi in Feb saying no Epstein files need investigating to November saying we are investigating but only Democrats – we have two unfathomably incompetent unforced errors by Trump’s henchpeople.
Leslie: Does anyone really think a Department of Justice that lies to judges about grand jury indictments is going to be open and honest about the Epstein Files?
It’s hard to pick the winner from the above but I will go with Leslie, Dootzie6, and a friend’s comment in no particular order.
Correction: I meant to post a comment by Conway. Instead, I posted a comment from a friend, interpreting the article’s comments.
