After a judge disqualified her from office and tossed out two of her politically charged cases against Donald Trump’s longtime foes, Lindsey Halligan is making another push to serve as a top federal prosecutor in Virginia, with support from the White House.
Halligan has submitted a questionnaire to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will consider her nomination for U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia before a full Senate vote.
“She’s the President’s nominee,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to The Independent Thursday. “It is our hope that she is confirmed and submitting her questionnaire is part of that process.”
Trump nominated Halligan for interim U.S. Attorney in the district after he boasted of “firing” her predecessor, who had resisted pressure from the administration to prosecute former FBI director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Halligan brought indictments against them days after taking office, but a federal judge dismissed both cases and grand juries in the district have failed to indict Letitia James two other times.
In a post addressed to “Pam” on his Truth Social September 20, Trump urged Attorney General Pam Bondi to prosecute his perceived political enemies without “delay.”
Halligan was sworn into office two days later. A grand jury voted to indict Comey three days after that.
In his post, Trump complained that “nothing is being done” against Comey, James and Senator Adam Schiff, who are “all guilty as hell,” according to the president.
Trump complained that his own nominee Erik Siebert was a “Democrat supported U.S. Attorney, in Virginia, with a really bad Republican past.” He called him a “woke RINO, who was never going to do his job,” and said he “fired him” because he wouldn’t take up the case against Comey.
Halligan, among the president’s personal attorneys, “is a really good lawyer, and likes you, a lot,” Trump wrote in the message to “Pam.”
“We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility,” Trump wrote. “They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!! President DJT.”
Three hours later, Trump announced on Truth Social that he was nominating Halligan, who has no prosecutorial experience.
Comey was indicted five days later on allegations that he lied to members of Congress in 2020.
A few weeks later, Halligan brought a criminal indictment against James on charges of bank fraud and making false statements in connection with a loan for a house she purchased in Virginia in 2020.
Both Comey and James pleaded not guilty.
Last month, District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie determined Halligan was unlawfully serving in the role and dismissed both indictments.
Because Halligan remained in office past the 120-period for interim U.S. attorney, “all actions flowing from Ms. Halligan’s defective appointment” including the cases against Comey and James “were unlawful exercises of executive power and are hereby set aside,” Currie wrote.
In a message to Instagram, Comey said he was “inspired” by the judge’s decision, adding that “a message has to be sent that the president of the United States cannot use the Department of Justice to target his political enemies.”
Halligan’s office has tried to re-indict James two other times, marking three failed attempts to bring criminal charges to the Democratic attorney general.
Alina Habba, another former Trump attorney, announced she is stepping down from her role as U.S. Attorney for New Jersey after several judges similarly determined she was unlawfully serving as the state’s top federal prosecutor.
Habba, who represented Trump during a blockbuster fraud case in New York and against defamation and sexual abuse claims from E. Jean Carroll, said in a statement that she will now serve as a “senior advisor” to Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Her exit marked yet another blow to the Trump administration’s attempt to keep a fleet of loyalists in top prosecuting roles across the country as his Justice Department faces intense legal scrutiny over its attempts to get around legal limits on how long they can stay there.
Judges have reached similar decisions in cases challenging the appointments of Trump-backed U.S. attorneys in Nevada and Los Angeles.
