Interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan stunned observers inside and outside a Virginia courtroom by admitting she did not show the full indictment against former FBI Director James Comey to all grand jurors.
President Donald Trump's hand-picked federal prosecutor testified Wednesday to U.S. District Judge Michael Nachmanoff that only two of the grand jurors had seen the two-count indictment against Comey before she submitted it to a magistrate judge, which legal observers called an act of malpractice that could doom the case –and Halligan's career as an attorney.
"Can someone tell me if that is bad?" asked WUSA-TV's Kyle Clark. "Like Colorado's own Lindsey Halligan, I've never prosecuted a case."
"Lindsey Halligan should be immediately disbarred," said constitutional law professor Anthony Michael Kreis.
"The Comey case has been such an embarrassing s--- show for Trump," posted political strategist Mike Nellis. "The grand jury rejected the indictment, so Halligan just had the foreperson sign an altered version. That’s illegal, and it means the case will be easily tossed. Idiots."
"DOJ just admitted to the judge that Halligan never presented the second indictment to the grand jury," added legal analyst Katie Phang. "Halligan is a train wreck in real time."
"HUGE development IN hearing for Comey selective prosecution motion," noted former federal prosecutor Harry Litman. "It turns out that the grand jury NEVER saw the operative indictment. Whole separate basis for dismissal. Standby for more.
"So when the indictment first came down there was some chatter about is the indictment even real and…maybe it’s not?" replied out writer Tyler King. "Is that what they’re implying?"
"So here’s what apparently happened: they tried to indict Comey on the last day of the statute with a three-count indictment," summed up criminal defense lawyer Ken White. "The grand jury rejected one. Rather than cross it out or indicate on the indictment that only two of the three counts were voted upon, Halligan creates a new indictment, which shows only the two counts they true billed, and has the foreperson sign it without presenting it to the grand jury. That sounds like something Halligan would do."
"This is almost unreal incompetence," marveled "Lawdork" blogger Chris Geidner.
"The indictment almost certainly goes away," added legal expert Marcy Wheeler. "Lindsey skipped the critical step of actually presenting charges to the grand jury."