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Lawyers for James Comey told a federal judge in Alexandria on Tuesday that they plan to file a motion early next week to formally dismiss his criminal case, citing what they call President Donald Trump’s unlawful appointment of former White House aide Lindsey Halligan as acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia shortly before Comey’s indictment.
The filing is part of a broader effort by Comey’s legal team to have the criminal case tossed. His lawyers told the judge last week they planned a separate motion alleging vindictive prosecution.
Tuesday’s filing is not a formal motion but a notice to the court signaling plans to challenge Halligan’s appointment. She was tapped for the role shortly before a grand jury indicted Comey last month on one count of making false statements to Congress during a 2020 Senate hearing and another count of obstruction stemming from that hearing.
"The Court advised at arraignment that such motion will require designation of and assignment to an out-of-district judge to hear and resolve that motion," Comey's lawyers said in the new filing. "Thus, in the interest of efficiency and to avoid any unnecessary delay in such process, Mr. Comey files the instant Notice to formally alert the Court."
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Lindsey Halligan, special assistant to the president, speaks with a reporter outside the White House, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025, in Washington. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo)
Trump installed Halligan last month to lead the federal prosecutor’s office in Alexandria after career prosecutors, including Erik Siebert, the former US attorney who had been overseeing the cases, reportedly expressed reservations about bringing charges against Trump’s perceived foes, including Comey, citing insufficient evidence. Siebert resigned soon after, prompting Trump to appoint Halligan in his place.
The effort comes as Comey's criminal case has emerged as a political lighting rod, punctuating years of public broadsides and quietly simmering tensions between Trump and his onetime FBI director, whom he fired in 2017, less than halfway through Comey's ten-year tenure as FBI director.
Comey used his memoir, "A Higher Loyalty," and subsequent public appearances to take umbrage against Trump and publicly criticize the actions he took during his first term. Trump has continued to assail Comey and scrutinize his tenure at the FBI, including by reportedly pressing for the investigation and empaneling of a grand jury.
Halligan ultimately secured the indictment from a grand jury in Alexandria just days before the statute of limitations ran out in bringing the case.
Halligan, a former insurance attorney in Florida, has said that the charges against Comey "represent intentional, criminal acts and tremendous breaches of the public's trust."
"No one is above the law," she told reporters last month.
While the indictment drew praise from some Trump officials and allies, it also prompted criticism from others, who said the case shows the lengths Trump is willing to go to punish perceived political foes.
Hours earlier, the federal judge assigned to the case rejected the Justice Department’s request to limit Comey’s access to "protected" discovery materials in the prosecution.
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FBI Director James Comey greets President Donald Trump during the Inaugural Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders Reception at the White House on Jan. 22, 2017, in Washington. (REUTERS/Joshua Roberts)
The notice from Comey’s lawyers was not the only significant development in his case this week.
Hours earlier, the federal judge assigned to his case, Judge Nachmanoff, rejected the Justice Department's request to limit Comey's access to "protected" discovery materials being used by prosecutors in the criminal case.
Nachmanoff said in an order that the government is obligated to share with Comey and his lawyers the discovery materials in the case, including those designated as "protected."
Blocking Comey's access to these materials would "unnecessarily hinder and delay" his ability to prepare for his criminal case, he said.
"Protective orders addressing the confidentiality and privacy interests of others should not override a defendant’s right to a fair trial," Nachmanoff added.
Further, he said, the government’s proposed order "does not sufficiently define the information constituting ‘Protected Material,’ thereby making it overbroad."
The order resolves, for now, one of several public skirmishes that have emerged in the days since Comey was indicted last month in federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia, on one count of allegedly making a false statement to Congress during a Senate hearing in 2020, and one count of obstruction connected to the same event.
The US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria, Va., where James Comey was indicted. (Bonnie Cash/Getty Images)
At issue most recently was whether Comey, the former FBI director who was fired by Trump during his first White House term in 2017, should be granted access to certain discovery materials in his criminal case.
Halligan asked the judge to restrict his access to discovery materials, citing their sensitive nature and concern about them remaining in the hands of defendants.
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She argued the action has long precedent in the Eastern District of Virginia — the Alexandria-based federal court where many national security and intelligence cases are tried — calling it a "common practice."
Comey's lawyers filed their objection almost immediately.
They argued that Comey is a Virginia-licensed attorney who himself is "admitted to practice law in the Eastern District of Virginia," and who has already "been entrusted with some of the most sensitive and highly guarded information in the country," including during the Bush administration, when he served as the Deputy Attorney General and as FBI director — a role he held for nearly four years before Trump fired him in his first White House term.
"To assert now, that he cannot be trusted with receiving discovery in his case controverts his long career of distinguished government service at the highest levels," his lawyers said.
Breanne Deppisch is a national politics reporter for Fox News Digital covering the Trump administration, with a focus on the Justice Department, FBI and other national news. She previously covered national politics at the Washington Examiner and The Washington Post, with additional bylines in Politico Magazine, the Colorado Gazette and others. You can send tips to Breanne at [email protected], or follow her on X at @breanne_dep.
