FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) \u2014 The Florida Bar on Friday walked back what it said was an erroneous earlier statement its representatives had made indicating that it had an open investigation into Lindsey Halligan, a former top federal prosecutor in Virginia.<\/p>\n
A letter from a bar association representative to an advocacy group that had requested an inquiry into Halligan said that there was an \u201cinvestigation pending\u201d in response to the group\u2019s complaint. <\/p>\n
Jennifer Krell Davis, a spokeswoman for the Florida Bar, also said Thursday that there was an \u201copen file\u201d but declined to comment further \u201cas active Florida discipline cases are confidential.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Friday, however, Davis issued a new statement saying, \u201cThe Florida Bar wrote a letter to the complainant erroneously stating that there is a pending Bar investigation of member Lindsay Halligan. There is no such pending Bar investigation of Lindsay Halligan.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said the Florida Bar had received a complaint and was monitoring the \u201congoing legal proceedings\u201d but did not explain the discrepancy.<\/p>\n
Halligan, a former White House aide for President Donald Trump, pursued cases against the president’s opponents but ultimately left the job after her appointment was deemed unlawful.<\/p>\n
The Campaign for Accountability, a nonprofit watchdog that had sought the bar inquiry, published a letter on its website in which a representative of the Florida Bar confirmed that the organization had an investigation pending. <\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the Florida Bar had told The Associated Press on Thursday that there was an open file on Halligan but declined to comment further because disciplinary cases are confidential.<\/p>\n
On Friday, Michelle Kuppersmith, the executive director of CfA, said the Florida Bar had not directly told them that the Feb. 4 letter contained an erroneous mention of a pending investigation. She said it’s \u201chard to reconcile\u201d the Bar’s latest statement.<\/p>\n
“If there is no longer an investigation into Halligan, the question is why not, given that three judges indicated she engaged in conduct that appears to violate ethics rules,\u201d Kuppersmith said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Halligan did not immediately respond to several email requests for comment about the investigation.<\/p>\n
The complaint centers on Halligan\u2019s brief but turbulent time as the acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, historically one of the Justice Department\u2019s most elite and prestigious prosecution offices.<\/p>\n
Halligan, who had served as one of Trump\u2019s attorneys but had no prior experience as a federal prosecutor, was installed in September<\/a> after the Trump administration effectively forced out her predecessor, Erik Siebert, amid pressure to bring charges against a pair of Trump\u2019s political opponents<\/a>: former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.<\/p>\n