FILE – Lindsey Halligan, particular assistant to the president, speaks with a reporter outdoors of the White Home, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025, in Washington.
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Jacquelyn Martin/AP
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump mentioned Saturday that he could be nominating senior White Home aide Lindsey Halligan to function the highest federal prosecutor for the Virginia workplace that was thrown into turmoil when its U.S. legal professional was pushed out Friday.
In a social media publish simply after he departed the White Home for an occasion at Mount Vernon, Trump wrote he was nominating Halligan as U.S. legal professional for the Jap District of Virginia, writing that she “will probably be Honest, Sensible, and can present, desperately wanted, JUSTICE FOR ALL!”
The announcement got here as Trump pressed Legal professional Basic Pam Bondi to maneuver ahead with pursuing instances in opposition to a few of his political opponents, a part of a vow for retribution that has been a theme of his return to the White Home.
The nomination would place one of many president’s authorized defenders answerable for an workplace in tumult over political strain by administration officers to criminally cost New York Legal professional Basic Letitia James, a longtime foe of Trump, in a mortgage fraud investigation.
Erik Siebert, who had been the workplace’s prime prosecutor, resigned amid a push by Trump administration officers to deliver costs within the investigation, which stems from allegations of paperwork discrepancies on James’ Brooklyn townhouse and a Virginia residence.
The Justice Division has spent months investigating, and there is been no indication that prosecutors have managed to uncover any diploma of incriminating proof essential to safe an indictment. James’ attorneys have vigorously denied any allegations and characterised the investigation as an act of political revenge.
Halligan has been a part of Trump’s authorized orbit for the final a number of years, together with serving as considered one of his attorneys within the early days of the FBI’s investigation into Trump’s retention of categorized paperwork at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida. She has extra not too long ago been enlisted in a White Home effort to take away what the administration contends is “improper ideology” from Smithsonian properties.
Earlier Saturday, Trump posted to social media what seemed to be considerably of an open letter to Bondi, saying he had “reviewed over 30 statements and posts” that he characterised as criticizing his administration for a scarcity of motion on investigations, together with the one into James’ dealings. Trump’s message talked about former FBI Director James Comey, Trump’s longtime foil whom he fired throughout his first time period amid the Russia election interference investigation.
The FBI acknowledged this summer time that it was investigating Comey, who was interviewed by the Secret Service after an Instagram publish that Republicans insisted was a name for violence in opposition to Trump. Comey has mentioned he didn’t imply the publish as a risk and eliminated it as soon as he realized the way it was being interpreted.
Requested as he departed the White Home if he was criticizing Bondi, Trump mentioned he simply wished motion.
FILE – New York Legal professional Basic Letitia James speaks, Feb. 16, 2024, in New York. (AP Picture/Bebeto Matthews, File)
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Bebeto Matthews/AP
“We now have to behave quick — somehow,” Trump mentioned. “They’re responsible, they are not responsible — we’ve got to behave quick. If they are not responsible, that is nice. If they’re responsible or if they need to be charged, they need to be charged. And we’ve got to do it now.”
In saying Halligan’s nomination quickly after on social media, Trump mentioned that Bondi was “doing a GREAT job.”
The number of Halligan got here simply hours after one other conservative lawyer, Mary “Maggie” Cleary, mentioned in an electronic mail to employees that she had been named performing U.S. legal professional for the Jap District of Virginia, in line with a duplicate considered by The Related Press.
“Whereas this appointment was sudden, I’m humbled to be becoming a member of your ranks,” Cleary, a conservative lawyer who has mentioned she was falsely accused of being on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, advised workers within the electronic mail.
Whereas Siebert mentioned in an electronic mail to colleagues Friday night that he had submitted his resignation, Trump mentioned in a social media publish: “He did not stop, I fired him!” Trump famous he was backed by the state’s two Democratic senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, including: “Subsequent time let him go in as a Democrat, not a Republican.”
