The grand jury that interim U.S. attorney Lindsey Halligan convened when seeking to charge former FBI Director James Comey never reviewed a complete copy of the final indictment against him, Justice Department lawyers disclosed in court on Wednesday.

The revelation came during a motion hearing at a federal courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia, as Comey seeks to have the charges of lying to Congress and obstructing justice dismissed. Comey claims he is being vindictively and selectively prosecuted by President Donald Trump and his yes-men at the Justice Department, like Attorney General Pam Bondi, because of the president’s longstanding and very public animosity toward him. Comey further contends that Halligan was never lawfully appointed to the attorney role.

According to CNN, federal prosecutors told Judge Michael Nachmanoff Wednesday that after the grand jury failed to approve of all counts against Comey, Halligan merely brought the grand jurors an altered version of that indictment, not a new one.

Michael Dreeben, an attorney for Comey, said this indicated “no indictment was returned” and that the statute of limitations to charge Comey had already run out.

The judge told prosecutors they have until 5 p.m. to enter a response onto the docket explaining why Halligan failed to present the grand jury with complete and full charges against Comey.

Former FBI Director James Comey is seeking to have charges of lying to Congress and obstructing justice dismissed.

via Associated Press

That wasn’t the only seemingly self-imposed hurdle the Justice Department faced in court Wednesday.

Comey’s lawyers argue the post is proof positive that Trump was pulling the strings to have Comey indicted. In response Wednesday, Justice Department lawyers told Nachmanoff simply that Comey “was not indicted at the direction of the President of the United States.”

But officials disclosed to The Wall Street Journal in October that Trump’s missive specifically addressing the attorney general was meant to be a direct message, not a public post.

In the post, Trump griped that a failure to charge Comey, James and others was “killing our reputation and credibility.” He also prattled on about how he had faced charges “OVER NOTHING” and urged Bondi that “JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED NOW!!!”

Trump spoke too of Erik Siebert, the U.S. attorney in Virginia initially handling the Comey probe. Siebert resigned just a day before Trump’s social media post to Bondi, citing a reported pressure campaign on him to bring charges against Comey even though evidence failed to support the allegations.

Trump seemed to have a replacement for Siebert in mind already.

“Lindsey Halligan is a really good lawyer, and likes you, a lot,” Trump wrote.

Dreeben said this was a significant tell by Trump.

“The president is underscoring what he wants here,” Dreeben said. “Siebert was not doing his job here ... if that’s not a direction to prosecute, I’m not really sure what is.”

Halligan was appointed to the interim attorney role by Bondi just 48 hours after Trump’s post.

Lindsey Halligan, special assistant to the president, speaks with a reporter outside of the White House, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

via Associated Press

U.S. attorney Tyler Lemons, however, insisted there was “no proof” Halligan was charged by Trump to prosecute Comey. She was “not a puppet,” he added.

Lemons also stumbled through key questions about whether prosecutors at the Justice Department had a memo in their possession laying out reasons why Comey shouldn’t be charged.

At first, Lemons wouldn’t say whether such a memo existed at all.

“Whether there was a declination memo is privileged,” he said.

But when pressed by the judge, Lemons remarked that “someone” at Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s office had recommended to him that he not disclose “privileged” information without permission. When the judge asked the lawyer what he was told not to say, Lemons only admitted he had “reviewed” a draft of the memo.

With so many details of the case in question, Nachmanoff indicated a ruling on whether Comey was prosecuted vindictively wouldn’t be immediate.

“The issues are too wavy and too complex,” he said.

Halligan is not the first interim U.S. attorney handpicked by the Trump administration to find themselves in hot water: Three other interim U.S. attorneys specifically appointed by Bondi have been disqualified so far, including Alina Habba in New Jersey, Sigal Chattah in Nevada and Bilal Essayli in California. Judges in each instance found Bondi’s appointment process was out of legal bounds.

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