The Department of Justice did an about-face on Thursday, saying that the full grand jury did, in fact, review the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey.
The new claim came just one day after lead prosecutor Lindsey Halligan told a federal judge that not all jurors had seen the final revised document detailing the charges against him.
Prosecutors submitted a notice to "correct the record" Thursday afternoon, insisting in the supplemental filing that all jurors were presented with the two-count indictment that the grand jury ultimately approved.
A transcript of the exchange between the court and the grand jury foreperson was included in the filing, which Halligan said "confirms the Court's recognition that the two-count true bill is the valid, operative indictment."
"[A]ny assertion that the grand jury 'never voted on the two-count indictment' is contradicted by the official transcript," she said.
The issue, Halligan said, was a "clerical inconsistency" related to the dismissed first count against Comey. She argued that the remaining two counts were "placed into a separate ... indictment" that was voted on by jurors.
But in court on Wednesday, prosecutors said that Halligan did not bring the revised indictment back to the full grand jury for review after the first count was rejected.
CNN reported that Halligan instead brought the amended document directly to the magistrate's courtroom for the grand jury foreperson and one additional juror to sign.
U.S. District Judge Michael Nachmanoff quickly called on Halligan to confirm that the entire grand jury never reviewed the altered indictment.
"Am I correct —" the judge reportedly began.
"No, you're not," Halligan interrupted. She said that there was one additional grand juror present in the courtroom and quoted her exchange with that individual.
"I'm familiar with the transcript," Nachmanoff said, before telling her to sit down.
The judge then asked Assistant U.S. Attorney Tyler Lemons if he was "correct" in his understanding that the "new document was never presented to the grand jury for approval."
"I wasn't there, but that is my understanding," Lemons said, according to CNN.
The contradictory claims could jeopardize the case against Comey, who has pleaded not guilty to charges of making a false statement and obstructing Congress.
Comey's attorneys argued that no indictment was actually returned and the case should be thrown out because the statute of limitations had expired.
In a Thursday court filing, the former FBI director's legal team said the misstep will form the basis of a forthcoming motion to dismiss.
Newsmax Wires contributed to this report.
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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