Overview

• A grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia approved two counts against James Comey by a 14-of-23 vote, declining a third charge.
• Lindsey Halligan personally presented the case in her first grand jury appearance, operated the exhibits herself, and was the only prosecutor to sign the indictment.
• CNN reports that Justice Department headquarters declined to provide lawyers or a paralegal for the presentation, while administration officials say she consulted directly with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.
• At the hand-up hearing, Magistrate Judge Lindsey Vaala flagged a discrepancy between two sets of charging documents and noted that a version Halligan said she had not seen bore her signature.
• Career prosecutors had questioned the strength of the evidence and senior DOJ leaders had privately doubted Halligan’s credentials even as Attorney General Pam Bondi publicly praised the indictment, saying, "No one is above the law."