Lindsey Halligan, who unsuccessfully brought politically charged indictments against Donald Trump’s adversaries, has stepped down from her role as a top federal prosecutor in Virginia.
Attorney General Pam Bondi announced her exit hours after a federal judge ripped into Halligan’s vitriolic defense of her continued use of the “U.S. Attorney” title, despite a court ruling that found she was unlawfully serving in the role.
Her defense “contains a level of vitriol more appropriate for a cable news talk show and falls far beneath the level of advocacy expected from litigants in this Court, particularly the Department of Justice,” according to Tuesday’s order from Virginia District Judge David Novak.
The judge ruled that her claim to the title of U.S Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia “ignores a binding court order” and could result in disciplinary action.
She has “no legal basis” to continue the “charade,” the judge wrote.
In a statement Tuesday night, Halligan said her 120-day appointment in the interim role “concluded” January 20.
Earlier, Judge Novak said that any further use of the title of U.S. attorney could be seen as “a false statement made in direct defiance of valid court orders.”
“This charade of Ms. Halligan masquerading as the United States Attorney for this District in direct defiance of binding court orders must come to an end,” he added.
Novak had previously asked the Justice Department to explain why she is still representing herself as the top federal prosecutor in the district despite November’s order from District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie.
A hostile response accused the judge of making “rudimentary” legal errors and flouting “elementary” legal principles in a “gross abuse of power” for daring to suggest that Halligan could be misleading the courts.
The document was signed by Halligan and submitted by Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, among others.
Trump nominated his one-time personal lawyer as interim U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia after the president 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.
But Halligan brought indictments against them days after taking office. A federal judge dismissed both cases and determined that Halligan was serving unlawfully in the role.
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,” according to Currie’s order.
Novak demanded to know “the basis” for her title and to “further explain why her identification does not constitute a false or misleading statement.”
But according to the Justice Department, “Ms. Halligan is the United States Attorney, and Judge Currie’s ruling did not and could not require the United States to acquiesce to her contrary (and erroneous) legal reasoning outside of those cases.”
“The bottom line is that Ms. Halligan has not ‘misrepresented’ anything and the Court is flat wrong to suggest that any change to the Government’s signature block is warranted in this or any other case,” officials wrote last week.
Trump formally nominated Halligan for U.S. attorney this month. Late last year, she submitted her answers to a questionnaire from the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will consider her nomination before a full Senate vote.
“She’s the President’s nominee,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to The Independent last month. “It is our hope that she is confirmed and submitting her questionnaire is part of that process.”
Judges in the Virginia district, meanwhile, are soliciting for their own temporary U.S. attorney until the role is filled.
Several other judges have similarly questioned why Halligan has continued to represent herself as the top prosecutor in the Eastern District despite Currie’s ruling.
Earlier this month, Virginia District Judge Leonie M. Brinkeman struck Halligan’s name from a case, saying that “she should resign from the position at this point.”
Halligan is among at least five U.S. attorneys who were determined to be serving unlawfully after they were appointed by the president.
Alina Habba, another former Trump attorney, stepped 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 she is now serving as a “senior adviser” to Bondi.
A federal judge this month also determined that John Sarcone, the top federal prosecutor in the Northern District of New York, was similarly serving unlawfully after the Trump administration tried to outmaneuver a 120-day limit on prosecutors whose nominations had not been confirmed by the Senate.
Judges reached similar decisions in cases challenging the appointments of Trump-backed U.S. attorneys in Nevada and Los Angeles.
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