Judge dismisses Comey and James cases

Briefing|Judge dismisses Comey and James cases

Judge dismisses Comey and James cases

A federal judge tossed out separate criminal charges against the former F.B.I. director James Comey and New York’s attorney general, Letitia James. The judge said the charges were invalid because the prosecutor who signed the filings, a loyalist installed by President Trump, had been put into her job unlawfully.

The two rulings left open the possibility that another prosecutor could refile the charges against both Comey and James. And many legal experts believe that the dismissals could be appealed to the Supreme Court. (Read the Comey ruling and the James ruling.)

The orders by the judge, Cameron McGowan Currie, a Clinton appointee from South Carolina, center on Trump’s unorthodox decision to appoint the prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan, in an interim capacity. She replaced Trump’s previous pick, who was also serving in a temporary role. The law does not permit the appointment of successive interim prosecutors, the judge said, or else a president could keep installing pliant appointees and get around the constitutional requirement for the Senate to confirm them.

Ukraine offered its changes to a peace plan

Ukrainian and U.S. mediators emerged from two days of talks today with a slimmed-down peace framework to end the war with Russia. The new proposal shifts some of the most contentious issues onto a separate negotiating track. Trump, who is pushing Ukraine to agree to a settlement by Thanksgiving, said that “something good just may be happening.”