New York Attorney General Letitia James wants the details of Lindsey Halligan’s interactions with the grand jury that indicted her — after a judge found “profound investigative missteps” in Halligan’s handling of the case against ex-FBI Director James Comey.
James wants prosecutors in the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, helmed by ex-White House aide Halligan, to turn over certain records from the grand jury that indicted her for bank fraud charges tied to claims that she lied on documents for a mortgage on a second home in Virginia.
The request came after US Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick found in a Monday ruling that Halligan, President Trump’s hand-picked prosecutor in the key district, made “fundamental misstatements of the law” in front of a grand jury that indicted Comey for allegedly lying to Congress.
“As in the case of James Comey, this Court should review the entirety of the grand jury transcripts and the audio recording of proceedings in Alexandria to assess whether any similar misstatements of the law occurred that could compromise the integrity of the grand jury process in this case,” James’ lawyer, Andrew Bosse, wrote in papers later Monday.
James’ side also wants to review parts of the grand jury proceeding to verify that everything was done by the book.
“To ensure that an unbiased and properly charged grand jury was empaneled and proper procedures in the grand jury room were followed, AG James seeks disclosure of the aforementioned four narrow categories of grand jury material,” Bosse wrote.
James is slated to go on trial on Jan. 26 but she is seeking to get her case thrown out on multiple grounds, including the alleged unlawful appointment of Halligan, vindictive prosecution and for outrageous government conduct.
New York’s top law enforcer is charged related to her purchase of a three-bedroom, one-bathroom home in Norfolk on Aug. 17, 2020, using a $109,600 loan. She is accused of lying on a rider attesting that the home was primarily for her own use, and that she would not rent it out.
However, prosecutors say she moved her grandniece in and received rental income.
She has pleaded not guilty.
In Fitzpatrick’s Monday decision, he said there was “a disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps, missteps that … potentially undermine the integrity of the grand jury proceeding.”
The judge cited the fact that Comey’s privileged attorney-client communications were wrongfully referenced during testimony to the grand jury and that Halligan — a real estate lawyer who was presenting to a grand jury for the first time — misstated the law when suggesting to jurors they could hold it against Comey if he doesn’t testify when considering his guilt.
The judge who will oversee both James’ and Comey’s trials, US District Judge Michael Nachmanoff, put Fitzpatrick’s order on hold until Nachmanoff considered arguments from the feds on why Fitzpatrick’s ruling should be overturned.
Comey, 64, was indicted on Sept. 25 for allegedly lying to Congress and obstruction of justice tied to accusations he lied when he testified before a Senate Judiciary Committee in September 2020 by denying he authorized leaks to the press about an FBI probe into the 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s use of her private email server.
He’s pleaded not guilty and faces trial on Jan. 5.
