Lindsey Halligan, who as a top Justice Department prosecutor pursued indictments against a pair of President Donald Trump’s adversaries, is leaving her position as her months-long tenure has now concluded, Attorney General Pam Bondi said Tuesday night.
Halligan’s departure from the role of interim United States attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia came as multiple judges were casting doubt on her ability to legally remain in the job following a court ruling two months ago that said her appointment was illegal.
She was appointed in September to a 120-day stint, which concluded Tuesday.
“The circumstances that led to this outcome are deeply misguided,” Bondi said in a social media post on X announcing Halligan’s departure. “We are living in a time when a democratically elected President’s ability to staff key law enforcement positions faces serious obstacles.”
The announcement followed dual orders from separate judges that marked a dramatic new front in an ongoing clash between the Trump administration and the federal court over the legitimacy of Halligan’s appointment.
A White House aide with no prior prosecutorial experience, Halligan was picked for the role by President Donald Trump in September only to have a judge rule two months later that the appointment was illegal.
In one order, M. Hannah Lauck, the chief judge of the Eastern District of Virginia and a nominee of President Barack Obama, directed a clerk to publish a vacancy announcement on the court’s website and with the news media and said she was “soliciting expressions of interest in serving in that position.” The judge noted that the temporary appointment given to Halligan, who has since been nominated by Trump but not confirmed by the Senate, expired Tuesday.
In a separate order, US District Judge David Novak said he was striking the words “United States Attorney” from the signature block of an indictment in a case that was before him, and barred Halligan from continuing to present herself with that title.
He said he would initiate disciplinary proceedings against Halligan if she violated his order and persisted in identifying herself in court filings as a US attorney, and said other signatories could be subject to discipline as well.
“No matter all of her machinations, Ms. Halligan has no legal basis to represent to this Court that she holds the position. And any such representation going forward can only be described as a false statement made in direct defiance of valid court orders,” Novak wrote. “In short, 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.”
The order from Novak, who was appointed to the bench by Trump during the Republican president’s first term in office, followed a defiant filing signed by Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in which they stood behind Halligan’s authority and accused the judge of abusing his power by demanding that Halligan publicly explain why she continues to identify herself as a U.S. attorney.
“Ms. Halligan’s response, in which she was joined by both the Attorney General and the Deputy Attorney General, 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,” Novak wrote.
“The Court will not engage in a similar tit-for-tat and will instead analyze the few points that Ms. Halligan offers to justify her continued identification of her position as United States Attorney before the Court,” he added.
Halligan was named to the job on an acting basis in September after the Trump administration effectively forced out veteran prosecutor Erik Siebert amid pressure to bring charges against two of Trump’s political foes, former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Halligan secured the indictments, but the win was short-lived. In November, U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie ruled that Halligan had been illegally appointed as an acting U.S. attorney and dismissed both cases. The Justice Department has appealed that ruling.
The U.S. attorneys who serve atop dozens of regional Justice Department offices across the country are typically appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. Attorneys general are empowered to directly install interim U.S. attorneys who can serve for 120 days, after which federal judges in the district have the authority to appoint a prosecutor to serve until the vacancy is filled.
