A legal watchdog group is pushing the state bars of Florida and Virginia to investigate Lindsey Halligan, a Trump appointee who is leading the prosecutions of former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
The complaint from the Campaign for Accountability, which was submitted to the state bars on Tuesday, accuses Halligan of violating the Virginia State Bar’s ethical rules for lawyers in her handling of the criminal charges against Comey and James, two longtime foes of President Trump.
“Ms. Halligan’s actions appear to constitute an abuse of power and serve to undermine the integrity of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and erode public confidence in the legal profession and the fair administration of justice,” the 17-page complaint reads.
Comey was indicted in Virginia in September for allegedly lying to Congress, just days after Mr. Trump named Halligan — his former personal lawyer — as interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. Two weeks later, Halligan’s office also secured an indictment against James for alleged bank fraud. Both Comey and James pleaded not guilty. Mr. Trump has lashed out against Comey and James for years, and publicly urged Attorney General Pam Bondi to look into both of them in September.
By seeking those indictments, the Campaign for Accountability alleges that Halligan violated the Virginia State Bar’s rules banning lawyers from making false statements to a court and barring prosecutors from filing charges that aren’t supported by probable cause.
She’s also accused of breaking rules that require lawyers to provide “competent representation” to clients, avoid making certain out-of-court statements and avoid any “deliberately wrongful act that reflects adversely on the lawyer’s honesty, trustworthiness or fitness to practice law.”
The complaint noted several portions of the Comey and James indictments that critics have pointed to as possible weaknesses.
In particular, Comey was charged with lying to the Senate in 2020 when asked whether he’d authorized any FBI staffers to serve as anonymous sources in news reports about Hillary Clinton, but the staffer he was asked about during the Senate hearing is different from the one who was referenced in the indictment.
And James was accused of falsely stating on mortgage forms that a house she bought in Virginia would be her second home, when it was actually used as a rental property. But the Campaign for Accountability argues the form cited in the indictment didn’t actually bar the house from being rented out.
The complaint also points to reports that other prosecutors and investigators were wary of charging Comey and James, including Erik Siebert, who led the Justice Department’s outpost in the Eastern District of Virginia until he resigned under pressure and was replaced by Halligan.
“The evidence appears to demonstrate that, absent President Trump’s intervention, neither Mr. Comey nor Ms. James would have been indicted,” the complaint says.
It continues: “Ms. Halligan was well aware President Trump had installed her as Interim U.S. Attorney specifically to indict Mr. Comey and Ms. James and, within just a few days of joining the office, she did just that—despite career officials having found the cases insupportable.”
The complaint also castigates Halligan for an alleged conversation that she had with legal journalist Anna Bower about the James case. Bower says that after she shared a New York Times article about the case, Halligan messaged her on the encrypted app Signal and accused her of “jumping to conclusions” and sharing “biased” information that was “way off.”
This conversation, the Campaign for Accountability argues, may have run afoul of rules that ban lawyers from speaking out of court in a way that could hurt the fairness of a jury trial.
CBS News has reached out to Halligan for comment.
The Justice Department has not yet responded to a request for comment.
The complaint asks the Virginia State Bar and the Florida Bar to launch investigations into Halligan and, if warranted, impose disciplinary consequences.
It could be a while before the issue is resolved. The two states have different processes for reviewing bar complaints against lawyers, but in both cases, there are several layers of review by attorneys and committees before a lawyer would face discipline — which can range from a reprimand to suspension or loss of their law license. Both state bars say they receive thousands of complaints annually, most of which don’t result in discipline.
Other high-profile complaints against lawyers, including the ones that led to former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani’s disbarment in New York and D.C., have taken years to reach a formal conclusion.
Halligan is the latest Trump-linked lawyer to come into the Campaign for Accountability’s sights. The group has also filed bar complaints against Alina Habba and John Sarcone, the top federal prosecutors in New Jersey and the Northern District of New York, respectively. Both prosecutors were named to their roles on an interim basis, and have faced challenges to their appointments.
Meanwhile, attorneys for both Comey and James have questioned Halligan’s role in their clients’ prosecutions. They argue Halligan was invalidly appointed to her role as interim U.S. attorney, and say the charges against the two Trump adversaries were driven by personal animus.
And a magistrate judge accused the Justice Department of taking an “indict first, investigate second” approach to the Comey case last week.
The Justice Department has defended Halligan.
“Our EDVA US Attorney Lindsey Halligan did an outstanding job,” Bondi wrote on X shortly after Comey was charged. “We will continue to fight for accountability, fairness, and the rule of law because the American people deserve nothing less.”
