JONATHAN TURLEY: From lawfare to lawflop: Trump case dies, but could rise again
Trump indictments against James Comey and Letitia James were dismissed Monday 'without prejudice' with judge citing president's social media demands
By Jonathan Turley Fox News
Published November 24, 2025 5:46pm EST
If we are living in an age of lawfare, it is fast becoming a war of attrition. The dismissal of the indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and current New York Attorney General Letitia James is the latest twist in the controversial prosecutions of Trump antagonists.
James immediately posted a message celebrating the decision, but she may want to focus on the prepositional phrase following the word "dismissal": "without prejudice." The administration may still be able to revive these cases.
James’ victory lap on social media is a fitting addition to the opinion, which emphasized President Donald Trump’s social media postings about these cases. U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie noted that Trump had demanded the indictment of these and other individuals shortly before the charges were handed down.
Law seems to have become entirely improvisational in the age of Trump. James and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg adopted highly novel legal theories to pursue Trump in New York, including Bragg’s revival of a dead misdemeanor charge and its conversion into a multi-count felony indictment. Both cases were denounced by experts across the political spectrum as the raw weaponization of the legal process.
However, James is entitled to every bit of the due process and procedural protection that she denied Trump. Rushed to completion in the final days before the statute of limitations expired, these indictments proved a target-rich environment for defense counsel.
When the Comey and James indictments were filed, many of us in the legal profession noted a couple of problems. First, the James indictment seemed disjointed after the denial of a key charge. With time running out, Acting U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan quickly stitched the remaining counts together and filed the indictment. It was ad hoc and hardly ideal.
The main problem we identified was Halligan herself. The former private counsel for Trump was appointed acting U.S. attorney after the removal of her predecessor, Erik Siebert, who reportedly resigned after expressing reservations about the legal basis for the indictment.
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