与司法部的说法相反在法庭上代理在周三的书面文件中，联邦检察官周四表示，大陪审团全体成员审查了对前美国联邦调查局导演詹姆斯·科米的起诉书。
提出指控的美国检察官林赛·哈利根(Lindsey Halligan)周三作证说，起诉科米的大陪审团投票决定就原起诉书中提交的三项指控中的两项指控起诉他，但反映科米最终被指控的两项指控的最终修订起诉书没有经过大陪审团全体成员的审查，只有陪审团主席和另一名大陪审员审查。
科米的律师迈克尔·德雷本(Michael Dreeben)周三辩称，大陪审团起诉书的问题显然需要法官驳回此案。
在周四的法庭文件中，DOJ官员改变了做法。
检察官在一份文件中写道:“2025年9月25日，地方法官瓦拉的诉讼程序的官方记录最终驳斥了这一说法，并确定大陪审团对这两项指控进行了投票——并真实记录在案。”。
美国助理检察官泰勒·莱蒙斯(Tyler Lemons)周三也在法庭上证实，整个大陪审团没有看到最终的起诉书。
“让我明确指出，第二份起诉书，即科米先生在本案中面临的有效起诉书，是一份从未向整个大陪审团出示或在大陪审团会议室出示的文件;是这样吗?”美国地方法官迈克尔·纳克曼诺夫问道。
“站在您面前，法官大人，是的，这是我的理解，”莱蒙斯说。
科米于9月被起诉，罪名是在特朗普之后向国会撒谎被迫离开前任美国司法部长埃里克·西伯特(Erik Siebert)和没有起诉经验的白宫工作人员哈里根(Halligan)随后呼吁司法部长帕姆·邦迪(Pam Bondi)采取行动“现在就行动!!!"为了起诉科米，纽约州总检察长莱蒂夏·詹姆斯和众议员亚当·希夫。科米有不服罪所有指控。
科米的律师辩称周三的听证会特朗普用他的前员工和律师取代了西伯特，并公开呼吁指控他的政治对手，这是在“操纵起诉机器”，犯下了“严重违反基本宪法价值观的行为”。
哈利根和其他DOJ官员在周三的听证会后，通过曲解周三发表的评论，对负责监督该案的法官进行了不同寻常的公开攻击。
哈利根在一份声明中说:“人身攻击——就像法官纳奇曼诺夫称我为‘傀儡’——不会改变事实或法律。”纽约邮报.
“联邦法官应该保持中立和公正。相反，这位法官昨天在公开法庭上对美国律师林赛·哈利根发起了令人愤慨和不专业的人身攻击。DOJ将继续遵循事实和法律，”DOJ发言人查德·吉尔马丁在一份声明中说发布到“X”星期四。
这些声明提到了纳克曼诺夫法官和科米的律师之间的一次交流，纳克曼诺夫质疑他们的立场是哈利根是唐纳德·特朗普总统的“傀儡”还是“跟踪马”，以报复科米。
但是Nachmanoff从未直接断言Halligan是一个“傀儡”，当Lemons断然拒绝这一描述时，他也没有在法庭上提出异议。
“所以你的观点是，哈利根女士是一匹跟踪的马，或者是一个傀儡，用不着更好的词来形容，执行总统的命令?”在交换过程中，法官Nachmanoff问Dreeben。
“嗯，我不想使用关于哈利根女士的语言，暗示她做了她被告知要做的事情以外的任何事情，”德雷本回答说。“美国总统有权指导起诉。她在白宫工作。她肯定知道总统的指示。”
In reversal, DOJ says Comey indictment was reviewed by full grand jury
In a reversal from what the Department of Justicerepresented in courtand in written filings Wednesday, federal prosecutors said Thursday that the full grand jury reviewed the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey.
U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan, who brought the charges, testified Wednesday that the grand jury that indicted Comey voted to indict him on two of the three counts submitted in the original indictment, but that the final revised indictment reflecting the two counts Comey was ultimately charged with was not reviewed by the full grand jury -- only by the jury foreperson and one other grand juror.
Comey's attorney, Michael Dreeben, argued Wednesday that the issue with the grand jury indictment clearly required the judge to throw out the case.
In court filings Thursday, DOJ officials reversed course.
"The official transcript of the September 25, 2025, proceedings before Magistrate Judge Vaala conclusively refutes that claim and establishes that the grand jury voted on -- and true-billed -- the two-count indictment," prosecutors wrote in a filing.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tyler Lemons had also attested in court Wednesday that the full grand jury did not see the final indictment.
"Let me be clear that the second indictment, the operative indictment in this case that Mr. Comey faces, is a document that was never shown to the entire grand jury or presented in the grand jury room; is that correct?" U.S. District Judge Michael Nachmanoff asked.
"Standing here in front of you, Your Honor, yes, that is my understanding," Lemons said.
Comey was indicted in September on charges of lying to Congress after Trumpforced outprevious U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert and installed Halligan, a White House staffer with no prosecutorial experience, then called on Attorney General Pam Bondi toact "NOW!!!"to prosecute Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James and Rep. Adam Schiff. Comey haspleaded not guiltyto all charges.
An attorney for Comey argued duringWednesday's hearingthat by replacing Siebert with his former staffer and lawyer, and publicly calling for his political foes to be charged, Trump was "manipulating the machinery of prosecution" and committing an "egregious violation of bedrock constitutional values."
Halligan and other DOJ officials, following Wednesday's hearing, leveled unusual public attacks aimed the judge overseeing the case by mischaracterizing comments he made Wednesday.
"Personal attacks -- like Judge Nachmanoff referring to me as a 'puppet' -- don't change the facts or the law," Halligan said in an statement exclusively to theNew York Post.
"A federal judge should be neutral and impartial. Instead, this judge launched an outrageous and unprofessional personal attack yesterday in open court against US Attorney Lindsey Halligan.DOJ will continue to follow the facts and the law," DOJ spokesperson Chad Gilmartin said in a statementposted to 'X'Thursday.
The statements refer to an exchange between Judge Nachmanoff and Comey's attorney in which Nachmanoff questioned whether their position was that Halligan was serving as a "puppet" or a "stalking horse" for President Donald Trump in his orders for retribution against Comey.
But Nachmanoff never asserted directly that Halligan was a "puppet," and didn't dispute in court when Lemons flatly rejected that characterization.
"So your view is that Ms. Halligan is a stalking horse or a puppet, for want of a better word, doing the president's bidding?" Judge Nachmanoff asked Dreeben during the exchange.
"Well, I don't want to use language about Ms. Halligan that suggests anything other than she did what she was told to do," Dreeben replied. "The president of the United States has the authority to direct prosecutions. She worked in the White House. She was surely aware of the president's directive."
