Michael Barbaro

Gotcha.

Right.

But to those of us watching from home, it felt like if anything was going to unwind this case, it was probably going to be a ruling of vindictive prosecution based off of Lindsay Halligan's very complicated testimony in that hearing.

So Devlin, walk us through this ruling that ultimately determines that Lindsay Halligan is not legally able to have brought these indictments against either James Comey or Letitia James.

Basically, this judge is saying that the administration has so diluted the normal process of picking a U.S.

attorney, who is, of course, the local embodiment of the Justice Department, that the process is completely disconnected from its original intent.

And like the judge said, basically, the president could put any old person in that job now.

Right.

It's the ultimate legal boomerang because the argument used here to dismiss a case the president wants against his enemies was used by a judge to dismiss a case against the president.

It seems like the judge is saying to the Trump administration, you should understand this argument full well.

You won one of your biggest legal victories based on it.

So Devon, now that a judge has dismissed the indictments of Comey and James based on this more technical argument, what happens to the more kind of spiritual argument of vindictive prosecution?

Does that ruling ever happen?

Or once the case is dismissed, does that ruling just get tossed aside?

So for now, that argument's in limbo, but I wonder if you can help us understand whether any of this case will ever come out of your so-called coma.

Could the administration try to bring these indictments back again?

And Devlin, in all likelihood, it's probably going to be another temporary U.S.

attorney because, as you just said, the career prosecutors don't want to bring these cases.

So is it possible that the basis for tossing out these cases, as technical as it might seem, becomes...

a broader rejection of the entire Trump administration's strategy of picking pretty inexperienced allies of the president to bring the cases against his enemies that he wants that the rest of the Justice Department system is really resistant to bringing.