Halligan And Bondi Push Back On Judge’s Suggestion That Comey Grand Jury Materials Were ‘missing’

Attorney General Pam Bondi and the prosecutor overseeing the criminal case against former FBI Director James Comey pushed back Friday against a judge’s suggestion that records of grand jury proceedings in the politically charged case had gone “missing.”

Bondi and the attorney she tapped for the prosecutor role at President Donald Trump’s suggestion, Lindsey Halligan, submitted unusual written statements to U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie in an attempt to clear the air about Halligan’s hurried grand jury presentation in September.

At a hearing Thursday in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, Currie expressed surprise that transcripts prosecutors gave her of the Sept. 25 grand jury proceedings ended at 4:28 p.m., but that Comey’s indictment was not presented to a magistrate judge until 6:47 p.m. that evening.

Halligan said that gap of more than two hours simply reflected the grand jury’s discussions about the case, which are not recorded or transcribed.

“The period in question consisted solely of the grand jury’s private deliberations, during which no prosecutor, court reporter, or other person may be present,” Halligan wrote in a two-page statement, submitted under penalty of perjury. “There are no missing minutes, contrary to the suggestion raised by the court.”

Still, the Justice Department did not appear to dispute another point the judge made Thursday: Bondi did not have a complete record of the grand jury proceedings when she purported to retroactively ratify Halligan’s actions last month. Prosecutors offered Bondi’s ratification as a rebuttal to Comey’s claims that Halligan wasn’t properly appointed as an interim U.S. attorney when she obtained the indictment.

Currie noted Thursday that while Bondi’s initial ratification was dated Oct. 31, prosecutors did not obtain a more complete transcript of the grand jury session until Nov. 5, after she requested it. That meant Bondi could not have had those additional materials when she claimed to ratify Halligan’s actions in front of the grand jury.

The new one-page ratification from Bondi, dated Friday, confirms that she’s now seen all the relevant transcripts. “For the avoidance of doubt, I have reviewed the entirety of the record now available to the government and confirm my knowledge of the material facts associated with the grand jury proceedings,” she wrote.

It’s not clear that even the more extensive ratification Bondi has now offered can cure possible legal flaws with Halligan’s appointment. Defense attorneys for Comey have argued that Bondi lacked the power to appoint Halligan to the prosecutor post on a temporary basis because the administration already appointed another attorney, Erik Siebert, to fill the same vacancy back in January. New York Attorney General Letitia James, whom Halligan brought charges against days after securing the Comey indictment, is also challenging Halligan’s appointment.

Siebert resigned a few days before Comey was indicted, although Trump later claimed to have fired him.

Comey’s lead attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald, declined to comment Friday on the new Justice Department filings.

Comey and James have both pleaded not guilty. Comey is charged with obstruction and making a false statement to Congress related to testimony he gave in 2020 to the Senate Judiciary Committee. James is charged with bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution in connection with her purchase of a secondary residence in Virginia.