Lindsey Halligan, whose controversial appointment as interim US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia submarined indictments of former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, is leaving the Justice Department, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Tuesday night.
Halligan, 36, had been appointed to the top prosecutor’s job following the Sept. 19 resignation of interim US Attorney Erik Siebert, who quit after President Trump publicly criticized him for not bringing charges against the ex-head of the FBI.
“The circumstances that led to this outcome are deeply misguided,” Bondi said in a post on X announcing Halligan’s departure. “We are living in a time when a democratically elected President’s ability to staff key law enforcement positions faces serious obstacles.”
Tuesday marked 120 days since Halligan’s appointment, the maximum time an interim US attorney can serve by law. She was nominated by Trump to take the job on a permanent basis, but the choice stalled in the Senate.
Lindsey Halligan outside the White House, Aug. 20, 2025, in Washington. APAhead of Bondi’s announcement, Chief US District Judge M. Hannah Lauck issued an order directing a clerk to publish a vacancy announcement “on the Court’s website and in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, The Washington Post, The Virginian-Pilot and Virginia Lawyers Weekly.” Lauck’s announcement gave prospective replacements for Halligan until Feb. 10 to express interest in the appointment.
In November, senior US District Judge Cameron Currie dismissed the criminal cases against Comey and James, finding that Halligan “had no lawful authority” to secure their indictments.
Attorneys for both Comey and James successfully argued that Halligan had to be confirmed by the Senate after Bondi used up her allotted 120-day interim appointment on Siebert.
Following Siebert’s resignation, the defense claimed, his replacement should have been picked by the Eastern District’s judges, not Trump. The Justice Department has appealed Currie’s ruling.
Earlier this month, US District Judge David Novak said he was striking the words “United States Attorney” from the signature block of an indictment in a case that was before him, and barred Halligan from continuing to present herself with that title.
He said he would initiate disciplinary proceedings against Halligan if she violated his order and persisted in identifying herself in court filings as a US attorney, and said other signatories could be subject to discipline as well.
“No matter all of her machinations, Ms. Halligan has no legal basis to represent to this Court that she holds the position. And any such representation going forward can only be described as a false statement made in direct defiance of valid court orders,” Novak wrote. “In short, this charade of Ms. Halligan masquerading as the United States Attorney for this District in direct defiance of binding court orders must come to an end.”
Lindsey Halligan, an attorney for President Trump, looks on during an executive order signing in the Oval Office of the White House, on March 31, 2025, in Washington, DC. Getty ImagesThe order from Novak, who was appointed to the bench during Trump’s first term, followed a defiant filing signed by Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in which they stood behind Halligan’s authority and accused the judge of abusing his power by demanding that Halligan publicly explain why she continued to identify herself as a US attorney.
“Ms. Halligan’s response, in which she was joined by both the Attorney General and the Deputy Attorney General, 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,” Novak wrote.
With Post wires
