US federal judge dismisses charges against ex-FBI chief

By Ahmet Salih Alacaci

WASHINGTON (AA) - A federal judge in the US state of Virginia on Monday ordered the dismissal of criminal charges against former FBI Director James Comey over the unlawful appointment of the interim US attorney who secured the indictment.

"On September 25, 2025, Lindsey Halligan, a former White House aide with no prior prosecutorial experience, appeared before a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia.

"Having been appointed Interim U.S. Attorney by the Attorney General just days before, Ms. Halligan secured a two-count indictment charging former FBI Director James B. Comey, Jr. with making false statements to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding," said the order by District Judge Cameron Currie.

"Mr. Comey now moves to dismiss the indictment on the ground that Ms. Halligan, the sole prosecutor who presented the case to the grand jury, was unlawfully appointed," said Currie, adding, "because Ms. Halligan had no lawful authority to present the indictment, I will grant Mr. Comey’s motion and dismiss the indictment without prejudice."

The ruling came after a series of missteps by the prosecution, including Halligan's acknowledged last week that not every member of a grand jury saw the final indictment against the ex-FBI chief.

Comey had asked the judge to dismiss the federal charges against him, which included allegedly lying and committing obstruction during congressional testimony of a probe related to Russian involvement in the 2016 US presidential election, which President Donald Trump won to secure his first term in office.

He was fired by Trump in 2017 as he oversaw an FBI investigation into potential collusion between Trump's 2016 election campaign and the Russian government, allegations Trump dismisses as a "hoax."