‘My God!’ CNN’s Elie Honig Stunned by ‘Humiliating’ Implosion of Trump Revenge Cases

CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig told anchor Kaitlan Collins that the implosion of President Donald Trump’s revenge cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James was “humiliating.”

U.S. District of South Carolina Senior Judge Cameron McGowan Currie dismissed the charges against Comey and AG James on Monday on the grounds that Trump-picked interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan was appointed illegally.

On Monday night’s edition of CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins, Collins asked Honig for his insights on the dismissal, which he chalked up to obvious “malice” and “incompetence”:

KAITLAN COLLINS: Elie, obviously you heard Pam Bondi saying the Justice Department will be appealing this. Given what the judge said, though, I mean, what would that route look like? What are their options here?

ELIE HONIG: So they do have the right to appeal up to the Fourth Circuit. But I don’t like their odds. Because if you look at this ruling, I will tell you, as a Justice Department alum, Kaitlan, it’s painful.

The way this broke. I was 10 minutes into teaching a class of college students, in a class about DOJ and the need to be independent of politics. And so, we stopped. We did breaking news is what happens if you take my class. Put it up on the screen, and started sort of reading the highlights. And at some point, I just turned to them and said, Guys, if you become prosecutors, don’t ever do any of this.

Because what this decision does is it calls out the two fundamental flaws with both of these prosecutions, the Comey and the Letitia James prosecutions.

One, malice. The only reason Lindsey Halligan was there as the prosecutor in the first place is because the real prosecutors refused to charge it and got pushed out.

And then second, on top of that, just incompetence, the inability to return a grand jury indictment and to follow the basic rules.

So, it’s a dark day for the Justice Department. Sure they can appeal. But I don’t love their chances.

COLLINS: So you’re saying, if this was you, it would be pretty embarrassing, basically?

HONIG: My God! I mean, thankfully I never had a case dismissed. Not that I believe — I was far from perfect as a prosecutor. But to lose not just one, but two? Your two biggest cases? Again, on such a basic defect that you couldn’t follow the basic law of just installing somebody who was technically qualified?

And when I say qualified? I don’t mean resume. I don’t mean how good a lawyer.

COLLINS: Yes.

HONIG: I just mean, met the basic requirements of law. That’s humiliating!

COLLINS: Yes. I mean, Gene Rossi has been saying this, basically every night when we’ve had him on–

HONIG: Right.

COLLINS: –that this is going to be illegal, that she was not going to be able to stay in that role.

But I think the question is. I’ve been talking to people the White House and around the President. Maybe they’ll refile Tish James.

Do you think the Comey case is dead, though? Because, to remind everyone, it was running up against the statute of limitations–

HONIG: Right.

COLLINS: –when they actually came and filed it. That’s why there was so much pressure on Lindsey Halligan to do it, her — what her, second week on the job, first week on the job?

HONIG: Right. So, four days in, on Comey.

Watch above via CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins.