The magistrate judge overseeing the perjury case against former FBI Director James Comey delivered a blistering order Monday—one that alleges a series of missteps by government prosecutor Lindsey Halligan, errors so serious they may derail the entire case.
Halligan, a Florida real estate lawyer elevated to the role after President Trump tapped her when federal prosecutor Erik Siebert reportedly balked at indicting New York Attorney General Letitia James, now finds her conduct under intense judicial scrutiny. Her appointment came during an effort to confront entrenched political actors who, for years, operated with impunity inside America’s legal and intelligence institutions.
Comey, indicted by a federal grand jury in September after President Trump urged Attorney General Pam Bondi to pursue long-ignored abuses, has entered a plea of not guilty. But the integrity of that indictment is now in question.
Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick, after conducting his own personal review of the grand jury transcripts, issued a 24-page order demanding that prosecutors immediately turn over records from the secret grand jury proceedings to Comey’s defense team. It is an extraordinary move—one the judge himself openly acknowledges.
“In so finding, the Court recognizes this is an extraordinary remedy, but given the factually based challenges the defense has raised to the government’s conduct and the prospect that government misconduct may have tainted the grand jury proceedings, disclosure of grand jury materials under these unique circumstances is necessary to fully protect the rights of the accused,” Fitzpatrick wrote.
The judge didn’t stop there. He identified two separate statements made to the grand jury that he said “on their face seem to appear to be fundamental misstatements of the law that could compromise the integrity of the grand jury process.”
One misstatement was particularly egregious:
“This is a fundamental and highly prejudicial misstatement of the law that suggests to the grand jury that Mr. Comey does not have a Fifth Amendment right not to testify at trial,” Fitzpatrick explained. “The prosecutor’s statement ignores the foundational rule of law that that if Mr. Comey exercised his right not to testify the jury could draw no negative inference from that decision.”
Beyond the misstatements, Fitzpatrick catalogued additional procedural blunders by Halligan, any one of which could justify dismissing the case before it ever reaches a jury. If the government hoped to restore public trust by pursuing high-profile accountability, these failures have accomplished the opposite.
According to CBS News, the Department of Justice has been given until 5 p.m. Monday to hand over the audio recordings of the grand jury sessions to Comey’s legal team—a deadline that hints at the seriousness with which the court views these potential violations.
