Former FBI Director James Comey appeared in an Alexandria, Virginia, court on Wednesday along with President Donald Trump's new prosecutor for the Eastern District of Virginia.
One of the details revealed by legal experts and reporters who were in the courtroom is that the U.S. attorney's team was woefully unprepared. U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan was forced to bring in outside counsel because none of the prosecutors in her district were willing to sign on to the case. Those lawyers confessed to the judge on Wednesday that they wouldn't mind delaying the trial until July because they were brand new to the case and didn't have all of the information necessary.
"What I think is equally interesting is these AUSAs going in and telling the judge, 'we don't have all the details. We're new to this,'" said Christopher O'Leary, a national security and intelligence analyst for MSNBC, who was previously an FBI counterterrorism senior executive and a director of hostage recovery.
"Right!" exclaimed host Ana Cabrera.
"Having been in court and worked with tons of AUSAs over the years, I've never heard of that or seen it. Probably not what a judge wants to hear," said O'Leary, noting that he put it in the category of a previously jaw-dropping experience.
"I arrested a bank robber when I was a very young agent, and the defense said that my client was drunk when he robbed the bank, so, you know, he shouldn't be held, you know, culpable. My mouth — my jaw dropped. But this is really just about as impressive as that was. I just have never seen that before," O'Leary said.
