Cogito Ergo Non Serviam
Judge Tosses Comey, James Cases
The Trump administration has many interesting characteristics that distinguish it from its predecessors. However, the main trait is incompetence. The ineptitude of the administration sest new records. As evidence, one only need to look at the decision in the Eastern District of Virginia to throw out the cases filed against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney-General because the prosecutor who signed their indictments was not properly appointed. There might have been other reasons to toss the indictments out, but this is such a stunningly fundamental error that it deserves deeper analysis.
The administration has tried, with a little success but not a lot, to get by with people serving as acting officials. The US Attorney in a given federal district must be appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. Rather that let the Senate do its job, the White House has put people in office without approval of the Senate. What should be a temporary situation has become the permanent default. This time, it bit them back. CNN explains:
In the cases against Comey -- which Halligan brought before a grand jury just days after her appointment -- and James, defense attorneys argued the 120-day period that an interim US attorney is allowed to serve prior to confirmation from the Senate or approval from the district's judges had already expired when Halligan took the position. This, they said, meant that Halligan's appointment was unlawful.
A lawyer named Erik Siebert had been serving as interim US Attorney since January 21, 2025. "When that clock expired on May 21, 2025, so too did the Attorney General's appointment authority," Currie wrote, adding that Attorney General Pam Bondi's "attempt to install" Ms. Halligan "was invalid and that Ms. Halligan has been unlawfully serving in that role since September 22, 2025."
She dropped the indictment on Mr. Comey on September 25. The statue of limitations on the charges of lying to Congress expired on September 30. The indictment of Ms. James came on October 9, and while that statue of limitations here has not expired, the indictment was signed by a US Attorney who was not legally appointed. So, it was tossed out, too.
This morning the pro-Trump Wall Street Journal ran an editorial under the headline of "The Gang that Couldn't Indict Straight," a nod to the 1970s crime comedy the "Gang that Couldn't Shoot Straight." The difference is that the movie was funny. The incomptence of the Trump administration is merely disappointing.
Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social (his personal social media site) in September to AG Bondi
"Pam: I have reviewed over 30 statements and posts saying that, essentially, ''same old story as last time, all talk, no action. Nothing is being done. What about Comey, Adam 'Shifty' Schiff [Democratic Congressman of California], Leticia [James] ??? They're all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done'."
This is enough to get the cases thrown out on its own. This message clearly makes this an act of retribution, which the US legal code does not allow. If Mr. Trump wants to do something shady and underhanded, announcing it on social media may not work well if the ultimate audience is wearing a robe and holding a gavel. America may be saved from fascist because this crop of fascists is incomptent.
The decline under the Trump administration continues to accelerate.
© Copyright 2025 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.
|
|
|
