Trump’s Political Prosecutions in Trouble as Challenges Mount to His Acting U.S. Attorneys 

For months now, President Donald Trump and his political appointees in the Department of Justice (DOJ) have jockeyed to keep loyalists at the helm of key U.S. attorney offices in various interim positions.

Unvetted and unconfirmed by the Senate, Trump’s acting U.S. attorneys have been on the forefront of his effort to refashion the department into an instrument of revenge he can use against his perceived political foes.

So far, however, judges determined that three of Trump’s temporary U.S. attorneys have been serving unlawfully after finding that Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi bent vacancy laws to get around the Senate confirmation process.

Challenges to Trump’s temporary U.S. attorneys continued to mount this week after the Campaign for Accountability (CAP), a government watchdog group, asked the state bar associations in both Florida and Virginia to investigate Lindsey Halligan, who Trump tapped to head the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Virginia.

Halligan, a former personal attorney for Trump, is leading the DOJ’s cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James — two longtime Trump foes. 

Trump installed Halligan as an interim U.S. attorney after he ousted her predecessor for raising concerns about bringing charges against Comey and James and publicly ordered Bondi to pursue charges against his enemies. 

CAP alleged that Halligan violated a “myriad” of regulations governing the conduct of lawyers  through her prosecutions of Comey and James.

“Halligan’s actions appear to constitute an abuse of power and serve to undermine the integrity of the [DOJ] and erode public confidence in the legal profession and the fair administration of justice,” CAP’s complaint alleges.

Both Comey and James have asked courts to toss the charges against them on the grounds that Halligan was invalidly appointed to her role as interim U.S. attorney, invalidating the indictments she brought against them. 

A district court judge is set to hear arguments Thursday over Comey’s and James’ motions to have their cases dismissed.

Separately, defense attorneys representing two men in California asked U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright to completely oust Bill Essayli from the top of the Central District of California. 

Seabright last month stripped Essayli of his interim U.S. attorney title but allowed him to continue in a supervisory capacity in the Central District of California as first assistant U.S. attorney.

The defense attorneys argued Essayli’s recent social media posts show he’s unconstitutionally serving as an “inferior officer” without Senate approval. They pointed to Essayli’s first post after Seabright issued his October order.

“For those who didn’t read the entire order, nothing is changing. I continue serving as the top federal prosecutor in the Central District of California,” Essayli wrote. “It‘s an honor and privilege to serve President Trump and Attorney General Bondi, and I look forward to advancing their agenda for the American People.”

A panel for the Third Circuit Court of Appeals has yet to rule on whether Alina Habba, another one of Trump’s former personal attorneys, can continue serving as New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor.

The panel’s ruling could affect the DOJ’s case against Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.), who was accused of “forcibly impeding” officers during a chaotic confrontation between federal agents and elected officials outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Newark earlier this year.

McIver, the first sitting member of Congress to be criminally prosecuted by the Trump administration, faces a maximum sentence of 17 years in prison if convicted.

A federal judge in August determined that Habba, who has led the prosecution against McIver, had been unlawfully serving as the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey since July, though the ruling was stayed pending appeal.

In addition to Habba and Essayli, judges have also determined Sigal Chattah, a Trump loyalist, has been unlawfully leading the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Nevada.