Watchdog Group Urges Investigation of Top Federal Prosecutor in Virginia
The non-profit group Campaign for Accountability is urging state bars to investigate Lindsey Halligan, the prosecutor pursuing cases against Letitia James and James Comey.
A watchdog group has asked the Florida and Virginia state bars to investigate Lindsey Halligan, the interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, alleging that she violated professional ethics rules while pursuing criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
In a 17-page complaint filed on Tuesday, the non-profit Campaign for Accountability said Halligan may have committed multiple violations of legal ethics, including by pursuing cases unsupported by probable cause.
Halligan, a Florida lawyer who previously served as a personal attorney to President Donald Trump, was appointed to the Virginia post in September after her predecessor resigned rather than bring prosecutions against Comey and James. According to the complaint, Halligan moved quickly to indict Comey and James at Trump’s urging, overruling career prosecutors who had raised doubts about the strength of the evidence.
In doing so, the watchdog group contends, Halligan placed political interests above her ethical duties as a lawyer. “Weaponizing the DOJ to prosecute the president’s enemies could destroy the democratic principles at the foundation of our Constitution,” the complaint states. “Ms. Halligan’s active participation in this course of action is an abuse of her governmental authority and is prejudicial to the administration of justice, adversely reflecting on her fitness as a lawyer.”
The complaint also cites text messages Halligan sent to me via Signal, an encrypted messaging application. During our exchange—published by Lawfare last month— Halligan commented on the James case. Campaign for Accountability argues that those statements violate professional conduct rules and Justice Department regulations that restrict prosecutors from making extrajudicial statements that could undermine the fairness of a jury trial.
The bar complaint urges both state bars to open formal investigations into Halligan’s conduct and to impose sanctions if any violations are found.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Good luck to Mr. Kuppersmith et al in pursuing this. Seems pretty straightforward. But as we know, nothing is as it should be nowadays.