For a second time, U.S. District Court Judge Cameron McGowan Currie has ordered the Department of Justice to turn over transcripts from the grand jury that indicted former FBI Director James Comey after the department failed to include statements made by interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan.
In an order last month, McGowan first requested the transcripts after Comey alleged that the indictment should be dismissed because Halligan, President Donald Trump's former personal attorney, was invalidly appointed to her position.
McGowan said that the transcripts were necessary "to determine the extent of the indictment signer's involvement in the grand jury proceedings."
On Tuesday, the judge revealed that the DOJ had handed over the transcripts, but had stripped out all of Halligan's remarks.
"This court has reviewed the transcript and finds it fails to include remarks made by the indictment signer both before and after the testimony of the sole witness, which remarks were referenced by the indictment signer during the witness's testimony," the judge wrote. "In addition, the package contains no records or transcripts regarding the presentation of the three-count indictment referenced in the Transcript of the Return of Grand Jury Indictment Proceedings before the Magistrate Judge."
In response, McGowan gave the DOJ 24 hours to come up with "a complete Transcript and/or recording of all statements made by" Halligan. She also said that she expected to see "statements made prior to and after the testimony of the witness and during the presentation of the three-count and subsequent two-count indictments."
Former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance noted that it was "unusual for a court to ask for disclosure or a prosecutor's comments in the grand jury."
"And never good news for the government," she added.