‘Comey’s Home Free’: George Conway Argues Former FBI Director Is Off the Hook Thanks To ‘Invalid’ Indictment

Conservative attorney George Conway said former FBI Director James Comey is “home free” after being indicted by the Department of Justice.

Conway’s argument is twofold: the indictment was signed by an improperly appointed DOJ prosecutor, and the statute of limitations has expired since the indictment. Comey was fired by Trump in 2017 and has become one of the president’s most ardent critics.

Last week, Comey was indicted for perjury and obstruction over sworn testimony he gave to Congress in 2020. The indictment came after President Donald Trump fired Erik Siebert, the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, for declining to prosecute Trump’s political foes, which included Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Trump tapped Siebert for the job in May, but replaced him with Lindsey Halligan, his former personal attorney.

Legal experts have roundly criticized Comey’s indictment as weak, with one Fox News legal analyst calling for the case to be dismissed.

Appearing on Wednesday’s All In on MSNBC, Conway attacked the indictment on procedural grounds, arguing that Halligan’s appointment was invalid, and by extension, the indictment. He further noted that the statute of limitations on the crimes Comey was alleged to have committed has run out. Host Chris Hayes noted that Siebert had already served as U.S. attorney for 120 days, which is the maximum number of days an acting U.S. Attorney may serve, unless the judges in the district vote to extend his term, which in Siebert’s case, they did.

But with Siebert ousted under uncertain circumstances (Siebert said he resigned while Trump said he was fired), there is confusion as to whether Trump can legally appoint another interim U.S. Attorney in the district.

Conway explained why he thinks Halligan’s appointment and the indictment are invalid:

CONWAY: I mean, there’s another method by which they could put in an acting U.S. attorney, but that person has to be already Senate-confirmed and already in the Justice Department. And Lindsey Halligan was neither. She was working as a hack in the White House.

So, she has basically no authority. She’s not the U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, and no one else. We saw her signature on that indictment. No one else signed that indictment, which means that it is invalid. And because no other valid attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia’s U.S. Attorney’s office signed the indictment, and because the statute of limitations has run, this case is over.

HAYES: That’s such a good point. Right. So the case here is I mean, before we even get to the merits of this case, which I think are pretty rough for the state–

CONWAY: Ridiculous.

HAYES: Before you even get to that, before you even get to the filing a malicious prosecution order to get it thrown out, which it looks like they’ve got a decent shot at, the argument here is like that indictment was signed by a person who didn’t have the authority. It’s like George Conway or Chris Hayes signed it. It doesn’t count. And the statute of limitations are up.

CONWAY: Yeah, the statute of limitations expired at midnight last night. So Comey’s home free. This case should be done.

Watch above via MSNBC.