Left to right: FBI Director James Comey testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington before the House Oversight Committee to explain his agency”s recommendation to not prosecute Hillary Clinton on July 7, 2016 (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File). Lindsey Halligan, special assistant to the president, speaks with a reporter outside of the White House, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin). U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks at a press briefing with U.S. President Donald Trump in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room in the White House in Washington, DC on Friday, June 27, 2025 (Annabelle Gordon/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images). New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks during a press conference regarding former US President Donald Trump and his family’s financial fraud case on September 21, 2022 in New York (photo by YUKI IWAMURA/AFP via Getty Images).
Days after a U.S. magistrate judge reprimanded Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Justice Department for its hasty prosecution approach concerning former FBI Director James Comey, a formal complaint has been lodged against the rookie prosecutor responsible for the indictment.
The Campaign for Accountability (CfA), a progressive oversight organization, filed a bar complaint on Tuesday against Lindsey Halligan, the interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. Halligan, previously a defense attorney for President Donald Trump, stands accused of breaching the Rules of Professional Conduct. This accusation echoes recent claims made by New York Attorney General Letitia James’ legal team.
Having previously targeted another of Bondi’s “special attorneys” in August, CfA criticized Halligan for her disparaging comments on Signal directed at Lawfare’s Anna Bower related to the ongoing James prosecution. The watchdog group also condemned her for pursuing indictments against the NYAG and Comey despite seasoned prosecutors arguing the evidence against Trump’s adversaries was lacking. These actions, CfA asserts, merit the attention of both the Florida Bar and the Virginia Bar.
The complaint alleges that Halligan ignored the findings of seasoned prosecutors who deemed a case against Comey unsustainable. Instead, she hurriedly pursued charges, allegedly without fully analyzing the relevant testimony, resulting in a failure to understand that Comey’s statements were either true or not demonstrably false. Similarly, Halligan reportedly dismissed prosecutors’ conclusions that charges against Ms. James were indefensible, rushing to indict her shortly after assuming her role.
The complaint challenges Halligan’s professional integrity and decisions, highlighting her extrajudicial comments on Signal. It cites U.S. Magistrate William Fitzpatrick’s recent courtroom comments, delivered less than a week ago.
“During a November 5, 2025, hearing in the Comey case, Federal Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick criticized the prosecution, stating, ‘Currently, we seem to be operating with an indict first, investigate later mindset,’” the complaint noted.
Fitzpatrick was not the first jurist to make a statement of the kind. In September, U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui criticized the DOJ’s “many misfires,” reportedly describing the government as taking a “we’ll arrest people … then see what happens” approach to law enforcement.
The bar complaint alleged that Halligan did much the same by “proceeding with charges that career prosecutors, as well as, in Mr. Comey’s case, a special counsel appointed by President Trump, deemed unsupported by evidence,” apparently referring to former special counsel John Durham, who was appointed by ex-AG Bill Barr, not Trump.
Halligan, the complaint continued, “appears to have violated her additional responsibility as a prosecutor to refrain from prosecuting charges not supported by probable cause.”
“It is difficult to overstate the damage wrought by Ms. Halligan’s actions,” CfA said, before placing Halligan at the center of “[w]eaponizing the DOJ to prosecute the president’s enemies could destroy the democratic principles at the foundation of our Constitution.”
“Her conduct undermines the integrity of the DOJ, appears to have violated multiple provisions of the Virginia and Florida Rules of Professional Conduct, and undoubtedly will erode public trust in the legal system if permitted without consequence,” the complaint concluded.
Notably, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, as recently as Friday at an annual Federalist Society event for attorneys, responded directly to this very criticism.
“When I read now that we’re weaponizing, I feel like I’m being gaslit, because we’re doing exactly the opposite,” Blanche said, according to Politico. “I take umbrage at the idea that the work that our prosecutors are doing is weaponization, because I have receipts. I know what happened the past couple years. I’ve lived it.”
Blanche, the No. 2 official in the DOJ, like Halligan was a criminal defense attorney for Trump.
