Former interim US attorney Lindsey Halligan – who was appointed by Donald Trump and led failed prosecutions against two of the president’s political opponents – was faced with an ethics investigation by the bar association in her home state of Florida, according to a February letter from the bar association to a non-profit watchdog organization.
But, in the wake of news coverage about that letter, a Florida bar association spokesperson said Friday in a statement that it had “erroneously” stated an ethics investigation into Halligan was under way.
“There is no such pending bar investigation of Lindsey Halligan,” spokesperson Jennifer Krell Davis said. Davis’s statement said the group instead was “monitoring the ongoing legal proceedings” underlying a complaint filed against Halligan by the Campaign for Accountability, as is “consistent with standard practice”.
The conflicting information involving Halligan and the Florida bar association surfaced after Trump’s justice department proposed to intervene on behalf of their employees in state bar associations’ disciplinary inquiries aimed at them.
The proposal requested that the justice department first be allowed to complete reviewing allegations while state bar associations pause their investigations. Yet, in case of the proposal’s implementation, state bar associations would not be forced to stop their own investigations.
Word of an investigation against Halligan – who temporarily served as the top federal prosecutor in the eastern district of Virginia – was contained in a February letter from the Florida bar to Campaign for Accountability executive director Michelle Kuppersmith.
Kuppersmith’s non-profit watchdog organization had previously complained to the Florida bar that Halligan breached ethical rules in the course of her work for the Trump administration. After sending follow-up correspondence about the complaint, Kuppersmith received a letter from Florida bar counsel Carlos A Leon which read in part: “We already have an investigation pending.”
An attorney could be stripped of their license to practice law in Florida if the state’s bar association ever determined they acted improperly.
Primarily known as an insurance litigator and a personal lawyer to Trump, Halligan had no prosecutorial experience when she was sworn in as the eastern district of Virginia’s US attorney in September. Trump by then had forced Halligan’s predecessor out after declining to institute criminal charges against New York attorney Letitia James and former FBI director James Comey.
Though Halligan subsequently oversaw indictments against both James and Comey, the cases were roundly criticized as politically and unduly vindictive, and federal judge Cameron McGowan Currie dismissed both prosecutions in November.
Currie ruled that Halligan’s appointment had been unlawful – and therefore she lacked the legal authority to indict James and Comey.
Attorneys general can appoint interim US attorneys to serve 120 days. But Currie determined Halligan’s appointment was unlawful since her predecessor had already served 120 days, leaving federal judges in the district with the exclusive authority to name the US attorney there.
The Senate, meanwhile, must also confirm US attorneys within 120 days of their appointment.
Lawyers for the Trump administration unsuccessfully argued that they are authorized to make consecutive interim appointments.
The Campaign for Accountability has since contended that Halligan’s unlawful appointment meant she claimed falsely to be a US attorney, violating ethics regulations. The group went on to complain to the Virginia and Florida state bar associations and then checked in with the latter of those agencies about the status of the matter in early February.
After the Florida bar association’s statement about how it was erroneous to have said that Halligan was the subject of an investigation, Kuppersmith on Friday said it was “hard to reconcile” that with the previous letter from Leon.
“If there is no longer an investigation into Halligan, the question is why not,” Kuppersmith said, citing court findings that “indicated she engaged in conduct that appears to violate ethics rules”.
A message left for an email address listed for Halligan offering the opportunity to comment on Leon’s letter, seen by the Guardian, was not immediately returned.