ALEXANDRIA, Va.—The Justice Department said in court on Nov. 19 that the full grand jury in former FBI Director James Comey’s case never saw the final indictment used to charge him—an issue Comey’s attorney described as fatal to the prosecution.
The revelation was made amid scrutiny of the grand jury proceedings, but this particular hearing was focused on Comey’s argument that the prosecution should be dismissed as vindictive and unconstitutional.
After some argument about the motion, U.S. District Judge Michael Nachmanoff asked Justice Department attorney Tyler Lemons for further details about the indictment.
In September, the grand jury was presented with a three-count indictment but rejected one of the counts. Interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Lindsey Halligan quickly followed by seeking approval of a subsequent indictment minus that count. Lemons acknowledged during questioning that the full grand jury hadn’t seen that subsequent indictment, which is the operative one for the case before Nachmanoff….