Lindsey Halligan, the Trump-appointed interim US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, is leaving her post after federal judges ruled that her appointment was unlawful and restricted her from continuing to hold herself out as the region’s top federal prosecutor.
Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed Halligan’s departure Tuesday night, hours after her 120-day interim term expired and after judges in the district made clear that she could not continue in the role.
Her exit comes following months of escalating conflict between the Justice Department and the federal courts over the legality of her appointment.
Halligan’s tenure was marked by controversy from the start. Appointed abruptly in September after the resignation of her predecessor, she quickly brought indictments against two of President Donald Trump’s most prominent perceived political adversaries: former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
But in November, a federal judge ruled that Halligan had been unlawfully appointed, dismissing both cases as a result. The Justice Department has appealed that decision.
Despite the ruling, the Trump administration kept Halligan in place, prompting further judicial scrutiny. Earlier this month, US District Judge David Novak ordered Halligan to explain why she continued to use the title “United States Attorney,” warning that doing so could amount to a false or misleading statement.
On Tuesday, Novak went further, ordering her to stop identifying herself as US attorney altogether, calling her continued use of the title a “charade” and “masquerading” in defiance of court orders.
Separately, Chief US District Judge M Hannah Lauck invoked the court’s statutory authority to begin the process of appointing a court-selected interim US attorney until a Senate-confirmed nominee is installed, directing that expressions of interest be solicited publicly.
Bondi sharply criticised the outcome, calling Halligan’s departure “a significant loss for the Department of Justice” and arguing that court rulings like this impede a president’s ability to staff key law-enforcement roles.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche reiterated that the president ultimately has the authority to choose US attorneys and suggested any court-appointed replacement would be swiftly removed.
Halligan’s exit marks the latest setback for Trump’s efforts to place loyalists in top prosecutorial jobs. Last year, another former Trump personal lawyer, Alina Habba, was forced out of her role as US attorney in New Jersey after an appeals court ruled her appointment unlawful.
Who is Lindsey Halligan
Born on July 21, 1989, Lindsey Halligan is an American attorney whose rise in Republican politics was closely tied to Donald Trump. She began her legal career as an insurance defence lawyer and became a partner at the firm Cole, Scott & Kissane in 2018.
Halligan joined Trump’s legal orbit in 2022, when he named her to his personal legal team. She worked on several of his most sensitive matters, including litigation related to the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago, efforts to challenge Trump’s eligibility under the Fourteenth Amendment, a defamation lawsuit against CNN, and behind-the-scenes attempts to dissuade the Justice Department from indicting Trump over his handling of classified documents.
In January 2025, Trump appointed Halligan as a senior associate staff secretary in the White House, later also serving as a special assistant to the president.
In that role, she advocated for aggressive action against what she viewed as anti-American exhibits at Smithsonian Institution museums and became a trusted aide within the administration.
Despite having no prior experience as a federal prosecutor or handling Justice Department cases, Trump installed Halligan in September 2025 as interim US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia after pressuring veteran prosecutor Erik Siebert. Judges later concluded that the appointment violated federal law, triggering a legal battle that ultimately ended her tenure.
Halligan has argued that she was left in legal limbo by the courts, saying judges treated her as removed from office without formally appointing a replacement.
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