Halligan
(Photo
by
Al
Drago/Getty
Images)
Lindsey
Halligan,
the
insurance
lawyer
elevated
to
run
the
U.S.
Attorney’s
Office
for
the
Eastern
District
of
Virginia,
has
managed
to
run
face
first
into
a
professional
wood
chipper
over
and
over
during
her
short
and
almost
assuredly
illegal
tenure.
Thrust
into
the
job
because
no
one
with
any
prosecutorial
experience
would
sign
off
on
criminal
cases
against
former
FBI
Director
James
“8647”
Comey
and
current
NY
Attorney
General
Letitia
James
—
cases
that
make
no
sense
—
Halligan
approached
the
task
at
hand
in
a
manner
befitting
a
graduate
of
the
Dunning
Kruger
School
of
Law,
digging
the
government
into
successively
deeper
holes
at
every
turn.
Last
week,
she
finally
appeared
in
court
to
explain
herself
and
it
did
not
go
well.
But
last
week,
we
thought
the
dumbest
part
of
Halligan’s
bogus
cases
would
be
signing
off
on
indictments
without
a
trace
of
authority.
As
it
turns
out,
it’s
so
much
worse!
Halligan
took
Comey
to
court
even
though
the
grand
jury
never
saw,
much
less
voted
on
the
operative
indictment.
Questions
about
the
indictment
swirled
from
jump,
when
the
court
wondered
why
they’d
received
two
different
indictments,
confusingly
at
odds
over
the
number
of
charges.
The
government
never
offered
much
of
a
satisfactory
explanation
for
this,
and
ultimately
the
Magistrate
ordered
the
DOJ
to
turn
over
grand
jury
material
to
Comey’s
lawyers.
Halligan
fought
this,
and
now
we
know
why:
she
had,
in
fact,
royally
screwed
up
the
grand
jury
process.
Anna
Bower
lays
out
the
full
timeline,
but
the
short
version
is
that
the
grand
jury
heard
three
charges
and
rejected
count
one.
The
Justice
Department
then
drafted
a
new
indictment
that
listed
only
the
two
counts
that
the
grand
jury
had
enough
votes
to
approve
and
—
without
sending
this
document
to
the
grand
jury
—
just
had
the
foreperson
sign
it.
This
is
why
it’s
a
bad
idea
to
drive
all
the
experienced
prosecutors
out
of
your
office.
But,
remember,
they
all
had
to
go
because
they
all
knew
this
case
was
frivolous.
Not
that
the
DOJ
will
admit
that…
Todd
Blanche
is
ordering
prosecutors
not
to
answer
questions
from
the
judge
at
the
same
time
we’re
learning
that
the
government
submitted
a
vibe-backed
indictment?
Cool,
cool,
cool.
Joe
Patrice is
a
senior
editor
at
Above
the
Law
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
Feel
free
to email
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments.
Follow
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Joe
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Managing
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