NY AG Letitia James to ask for her case to be dismissed due to appointment of Lindsey Halligan
By Devan Cole, Casey Gannon, Kara Scannell, CNN
(CNN) — New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a notice on Thursday that her legal team plans to ask for her indictment to be dismissed, citing the appointment of President Donald Trump’s handpicked prosecutor Lindsey Halligan, according to a filing submitted by James’ legal team.
“Please take notice that on October 24, 2025, Letitia James, by counsel, will file her motion to dismiss the indictment that challenges the unlawful appointment of the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Lindsey Halligan,” the court filing said.
The brief two-page filing also included a footnote referring to another recent indictment against former FBI Director James Comey, who is also seeking to have his indictment dismissed due to Halligan’s appointment. The footnote says the two motions, “should likely be consolidated.”
James was indicted on two felony charges of bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution on October 9. James is scheduled to appear in court in Norfolk, Virginia, on Friday at 11 a.m. ET.
Halligan is expected to be in the Friday hearing, according to a source familiar.
A hearing on Comey’s motion is scheduled for November 13.
Asks to bar DOJ from talking to press
Also Thursday, James asked the federal judge overseeing her criminal case to bar federal prosecutors from talking with the media about it to ensure she has a fair trial.
Halligan had communicated with a reporter about the case two days after she persuaded a federal grand jury to indict James.
Those comments – which were reported earlier this week by the journalist, Anna Bower – represented “a stunning disclosure of internal government information,” attorneys for James told US District Judge Jamar Walker. They noted that the conversation, which was initiated by Halligan and occurred over the messaging platform Signal, included the prosecutor’s thoughts on the “credibility and general strength of the evidence presented to the grand jury.”
“These extrajudicial statements and prejudicial disclosures by any prosecutor, let alone one purporting to be the U.S. Attorney, run afoul of and violate the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, the Code of Federal Regulations, this Court’s Local Rules, various rules of ethical and professional responsibility, and DOJ’s Justice Manual,” James’ attorneys wrote in court papers.
“In order to ensure a fair trial and impartial proceedings for Attorney General James, we respectfully seek the Court’s intervention to prevent any further disclosures by government attorneys and agents of investigative and case materials, and statements to the media and public, concerning this case and any parties or witnesses,” the lawyers told the judge.
They’re asking for a court order that would, among other things, bar Halligan and other prosecutors in the case from making “extrajudicial disclosures of investigative and case materials, and statements to the media and journalists.”
Under their proposed order, prosecutors would also need to keep a list of all contacts they have with members of the media.
“As the prosecutor who is ‘handling the case’ against Attorney General James and purporting to be the U.S. Attorney, Ms. Halligan is supposed to be the standard-bearer of the professional responsibility rules rather than the District’s violator-in-chief,” the attorney general’s lawyers wrote in their filing.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
CNN’s Kristen Holmes contributed to this report.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
