Attorney General James Requests Court to Silence Lindsey Halligan

New York Attorney General Letitia James, echoing the approach of James Comey, has criticized U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan for allegedly violating professional conduct rules. This comes after Halligan reportedly discussed a bank fraud indictment with a journalist on the messaging app Signal shortly after the charges were announced.

James’ legal team, including Abbe Lowell and Andrew Bosse, filed a stern critique of Halligan’s actions. This misstep has garnered significant media attention and backlash, highlighting the controversial nature of Halligan’s communication with the press.

Halligan, who previously served as a defense attorney for former President Donald Trump and is relatively new to the role of prosecutor, contacted Anna Bower of Lawfare. In her messages, Halligan criticized Bower for spreading what she described as inaccurate and biased conclusions on social media regarding a New York Times article about the case involving Trump’s political opponent.

According to Law&Crime, James faces indictment for bank fraud, with Halligan accusing her of providing false information on bank documents to obtain a better loan deal for a Virginia property. The property was purportedly misrepresented as a rental investment, resulting in nearly $19,000 in alleged illicit gains.

Just two days after the indictment, Halligan reached out to Bower on Signal, discussing private grand jury proceedings. Halligan appeared to believe that their conversation was confidential, as the messages were set to disappear after eight hours. However, Bower, who had not agreed to keep the conversation off the record, published the exchange in full, a move that reportedly caused discontent among Trump’s associates.

In response, James’ attorneys have urged U.S. District Judge Jamar Walker, appointed by President Joe Biden, to ensure that the trial remains fair. They have requested that the court prevent further extrajudicial statements, ensure compliance with federal record-keeping laws, and preserve all communications related to the investigation and prosecution of this case.

“Proactive intervention by this Court is necessary to protect Attorney General James’ constitutional rights and the integrity of this Court’s procedures,” the filing continued.

James accused Halligan of running “afoul” of Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, the Code of Federal Regulations, Eastern District of Virginia local rules, “various rules of ethical and professional responsibility” — including the American Bar Association’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct — and the DOJ’s Justice Manual.

Halligan’s “extrajudicial statements and prejudicial disclosures” to Bower, all while setting Signal messages to disappear — in a “likely violation of the federal records laws and rules around using unapproved electronic messaging accounts” — must be stopped, the filing said.

Adding that Halligan’s dearth of prosecutorial experience is no excuse, James’ lawyers slammed the “purported” interim U.S. attorney for making out-of-court statements that had a “substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing an adjudicative proceeding[.]”

“As the prosecutor who is ‘handling the case’ against Attorney General James and purporting to be the U.S. Attorney, Ms. Halligan is supposed to be the standard-bearer of the professional responsibility rules rather than the District’s violator-in-chief,” the filing said.

James separately informed the court that she will file a motion to dismiss the indictment based on Halligan’s allegedly unlawful appointment, a position shared by ex-FBI director Comey.

Noting that, as in the Comey case, the motion will need to be handled by an “out-of-district judge” within the 4th Circuit, James suggested that their motions to dismiss be “consolidated.”

Senior U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie, a Bill Clinton appointee in South Carolina, has been designated to handle the Comey motion.