The White House is quietly moving to get the U.S. Senate to confirm Lindsey Halligan as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, MS NOW has learned.
Without any White House announcement or fanfare, Halligan submitted her confirmation questionnaire to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. MS NOW obtained a copy of Halligan’s questionnaire.
In a statement to MS NOW, the White House confirmed the submission of Halligan’s questionnaire. “She’s the president’s nominee,” said press secretary Karoline Leavitt. “It is our hope that she is confirmed and submitting her questionnaire is a part of that process.”
The push for confirmation comes after a federal judge dismissed indictments that Halligan secured against New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey, ruling that she was improperly appointed by President Donald Trump and lacked the legal authority to prosecute anyone.
Trump first installed Halligan, an insurance lawyer and former White House aide with no prosecutorial experience, as the acting top prosecutor in the office on September 22. The appointment came after neither the previous interim U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert nor any of the career prosecutors in the office would agree to pursue an indictment of James or Comey. In writing and verbal presentations, career prosecutors had warned that, despite Trump pressing for both to be criminally charged, the factual evidence was insufficient to bring charges against them. Trump and his allies urged James be charged with mortgage fraud, and in with lying to Congress in 2020. Trump then formally nominated Halligan to serve in the post on a permanent basis in late September, but never pressed to have a nomination hearing. Halligan obtained indictments against Comey in September, on her fourth day in office, and against James the following month.
Carol Leonnig is a senior investigative reporter with MS NOW.
Lisa Rubin is an MS NOW legal correspondent and a former litigator. Previously, she was the off-air legal analyst for “The Rachel Maddow Show” and “Alex Wagner Tonight.”
Laura Barrón-López covers the White House for MS NOW. Recommended
