Justice Dep’t Backtracks, Says Jury Approved Comey Indictment

A day after the Justice Department acknowledged to a federal judge that the full grand jury had not reviewed the final indictment of former FBI Director James Comey, the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney overseeing the case abruptly reversed herself, insisting that the panel properly approved the charges as she tried to contain the fallout from earlier statements that risked imperiling the prosecution, Eric Tucker reported for the Associated Press (AP).

The new court filing is meant to undo any public perception that the grand jury presentation was botched and that the case may be jeopardized as a result.

The latest statements from Lindsey Halligan, the hastily named interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, represent an attempt to backtrack on earlier comments the prosecution team made under persistent questioning from a judge about the seemingly jumbled process leading to the return of the two-count indictment.

The new court filing, supplemented by a transcript from the September evening the indictment was returned, is meant to undo any public perception that the grand jury presentation was botched and that the case may be jeopardized as a result.

It was not clear why some of the points in Thursday’s filing were not raised during Wednesday’s hearing, when prosecutors made clear that the full grand jury did not see the indictment filed in the case.

Either way, the dueling accounts underscore the irregular nature of the prosecution against one of President Donald Trump’s political opponents and lay bare the consequences of the Justice Department’s decision to entrust such a consequential case to a lawyer who had no prior experience as a prosecutor and was appointed to the job days before the indictment.