President Donald Trump’s hand-picked prosecutor is facing calls to be investigated for bringing charges against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
The legal watchdog group Campaign for Accountability (CfA) has written to both the Florida Bar and the Virginia State Bar urging an investigation into Lindsey Halligan, a 36-year-old former Miss Colorado beauty pageant contestant.
The group is accusing her of bringing federal charges against two of Trump’s political adversaries despite what it describes as a “dearth of evidence” that either committed a crime.
“It is difficult to overstate the damage wrought by Ms. Halligan’s actions. In addition to unjustly and vindictively inflicting direct personal harm on Mr. Comey and Ms. James, she is singlehandedly undermining—maybe irrevocably—the public’s confidence in the impartiality of the Department of Justice,” CfA Executive Director Michelle Kuppersmith said in a statement.
Comey, whom Trump fired from the FBI in 2017, was charged by Halligan’s office with lying to Congress regarding 2020 statements about whether he authorized leaks related to the press about the 2016 Russian election interference probe.
James, who successfully prosecuted Trump for filing fraudulent financial statements, was later charged with bank fraud allegations by Halligan.
Both cases, as well as the charges brought against Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton, have been widely accused of being part of a political retribution campaign carried out by the president with the help of loyalist federal prosecutors.
Trump appointed Halligan—his former personal attorney who has no prior experience as a criminal prosecutor—to the powerful U.S. Attorney post in Virginia after her predecessor resigned after refusing to bow to pressure to pursue charges against Comey and James.
Trump had also publicly fumed to Attorney General Pam Bondi in September that “nothing is being done” about prosecuting the pair in a Truth Social post that was reportedly meant to be sent privately. Five days later, Comey was indicted on charges of lying to Congress, followed weeks later by James’ indictment.
The CfA has now accused Halligan of violating numerous rules of professional conduct for lawyers, including those barring prosecutors from filing charges that they know aren’t supported by probable cause and making false statements to the courts.
“We are asking the Virginia and Florida Bars to investigate, making clear that a government appointment is not a hall pass for unethical behavior,” Kuppersmith added.
The Daily Beast has contacted Halligan’s office, as well as the Florida and Virginia State Bars, for comment.
