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Newly appointed acting U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan presented the case to secure the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey on her own, according to a source familiar with the grand jury proceedings in Alexandria, Virginia, on Thursday.
Tapped for the acting role just three days earlier, Halligan’s action came after a senior Justice Department official told NBC News that career prosecutors in Halligan’s office sent her a memo documenting why they believed probable cause did not exist to secure an indictment against Comey.
The appointment of Halligan, who was on President Donald Trump’s defense team in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case prior to his election to a second term, followed the resignation of acting U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert last Friday after pressure grew from the White House to prosecute Comey.
Time was of the essence in bringing an indictment: A five-year statute of limitations on the charges against the former FBI director was set to expire early next week.
Halligan and the Department of Justice did not immediately respond to NBC News’ requests for comment.
The indictment charged Comey with making a false statement and obstruction of a congressional proceeding. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Halligan was also the only prosecutor to sign the indictment. It is highly unusual for the U.S. attorney to not assign assistant prosecutors to a case for grand jury presentation.
The charges stem from testimony Comey delivered to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 30, 2020, in response to questioning about who authorized an information leak to The Wall Street Journal about an FBI investigation into the Clinton Foundation in 2016. Comey was asked whether he stood by earlier testimony from 2017 denying that he’d authorized his deputy, Andrew McCabe, to approve the leak, and he responded, “I stand by the testimony.”
A 2018 Justice Department inspector general’s report quoted McCabe as saying he did not recall discussing the disclosure with Comey in advance of authorizing it, although it was possible that he did, but when he told Comey after the article came out, he “did not react negatively.”
The inspector general said Comey denied McCabe ever told him he was responsible for the leak, and the report found that McCabe’s account had changed over time and he “lacked candor.” The report ultimately found the leak had been authorized by McCabe “without consulting Comey.”
Court records show that the grand jury declined to indict Comey on a third count, which was related to his testifying at the hearing that he didn’t remember being told of a “plan” involving two unidentified people and the 2016 election. The filing also shows an apparent typographical error listing that third count again as “count two.”
In a statement Thursday night, Halligan said the “charges as alleged in this represent a breach of the public trust at an extraordinary level.”
Comey declared his innocence in a video post on Instagram Thursday night.
“My heart is broken for the Department of Justice, but I have great confidence in the federal judicial system, and I’m innocent,” he said. “So let’s have a trial and keep the faith.”
The indictment came just days after Trump posted on social media that Attorney General Pam Bondi should take action against Comey and two of the president’s other adversaries, Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
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