After judge’s rebuke, Trump ally Halligan to leave US Justice Department

By Andrew Goudsward and Daniel Trotta

WASHINGTON, Jan 20 (Reuters) – Lindsey Halligan, a prosecutor closely aligned with President Donald Trump, is leaving the U.S. Justice Department, Attorney General Pam Bondi said on Tuesday, ending a controversial stint as U.S. Attorney.

Bondi announced Halligan’s departure on X, blaming Senate Democrats who opposed renewing her as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, where she unsuccessfully pursued criminal cases against two of Trump’s adversaries.

Without Senate confirmation Halligan was limited to a 120-day interim appointment, which a judge found had ended last year.

On Tuesday, another U.S. District judge, David Novak, ordered Halligan to stop referring to herself as the top federal prosecutor in Virginia’s Eastern District in court filings before him, suggesting the Justice Department was defying a court order that found she was unlawfully appointed.   

Even under the Justice Department’s more generous view of when her interim term would end, that 120-period concluded on Tuesday.

JUDGE ACCUSED HALLIGAN OF ‘CHARADE’

Novak described her continued use of the title as a “charade” and suggested the Justice Department was defying a court order that found she was unlawfully appointed. 

Novak, who was nominated by Trump during his first term, threatened disciplinary proceedings against Halligan and any other prosecutor who continues using the title in his court. 

“No matter all of her machinations, Ms. Halligan has no legal basis to represent to this Court that she holds the position,” Novak wrote. “Any such representation going forward can only be described as a false statement made in direct defiance of valid court orders.”

Trump had handpicked Halligan, a former personal attorney of his, to lead investigations into former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, two of Trump’s perceived political enemies.

PRIOR CASES DISMISSED

A different judge dismissed those cases, finding that Halligan’s appointment was unlawful. The Justice Department is appealing those dismissals.

The Trump administration had been waiting for the Senate to consider Halligan’s nomination for the post, but Virginia’s two Democratic senators can block the nomination under a longstanding Senate tradition known as the blue slip process.

“Democratic Senators weaponized the blue slip process, making it impossible for Lindsey’s term as United States Attorney to continue following the expiration of her 120-day appointment,” Bondi said.

In a defiant filing last week, the department accused Novak of exceeding his authority by questioning Halligan’s appointment.

In his ruling on Tuesday, Novak said the department’s filing “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.”

Also on Tuesday, the chief judge of the court solicited applications for a court-appointed successor to Halligan. 

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche suggested on social media that Trump would fire any replacement named by the court.

(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward in Washington and Daniel Trotta in Carlsbad, California; Editing by Andy Sullivan, Scott Malone, Cynthia Osterman and Michael Perry)