Former Justice Department official Lindsey Halligan, the Trump loyalist with no prosecutorial experience who brought failed cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, is under investigation by the Florida Bar, a bar official said in a letter.
The bar official wrote in a short letter to a nonprofit watchdog group, the Campaign for Accountability, that the bar had “an investigation pending” into Halligan.
The Campaign for Accountability had said that by falsely claiming to be a U.S. attorney, Halligan committed a variety of ethical violations. It filed complaints with both the Florida and the Virginia bars in November, and it followed up with the Florida Bar last month.
“Two federal judges found that Ms. Halligan operated without legal authority, with one finding she openly defied court orders, and another concluded she misled a grand jury,” Executive Director Michelle Kuppersmith said in a statement last month.
Halligan, who until she joined the federal prosecutor's office was an insurance lawyer, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. She practiced law in Florida.
She left the Justice Department in January after a judge found she unlawfully held the position of interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. A judge dismissed the cases against Comey and James because, he said, Halligan had been appointed unlawfully. The New York Times first reported the news of the Florida Bar investigation.
A federal judge President Donald Trump appointed during his first term said in January that Halligan had been “masquerading” as the district’s top federal prosecutor but gave her a break from disciplinary proceedings “in light of her inexperience” and the fact that she “lacks the prosecutorial experience that has long been the norm for those nominated to the position of United States Attorney in this District.”
