With Appointment of Loyalist as Top Virginia Prosecutor, Trump’s Dangerous Revenge Campaign Hits ‘New Low’

Lindsey Halligan, a lawyer with no prosecutorial experience, was appointed by President Donald Trump Monday as temporary U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. 

Halligan’s appointment marks a dangerous escalation in Trump’s effort to use the power of the U.S. Justice Department to advance his personal and political interests — a push that is spurring intense criticism and alarm among former prosecutors and legal experts. 

“Trump wants to skip constitutional safeguards in order to carry out retribution,” one former U.S. attorney told Democracy Docket.

It comes after Erik Seibert was forced out of the post last week amid pressure from the president and senior Trump officials to indict New York Attorney General Letitia James on unproven mortgage fraud allegations. And it follows Trump’s order to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to prosecute his political adversaries, including James, former FBI Director James Comey and U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.)

Trump’s scheme has been widely condemned by former DOJ officials. And it has ignited fears that other U.S. attorneys overseeing political investigations will also be threatened with removal for failing to comply with orders from the White House.

Though Siebert resigned in a letter to staff last week, Trump over the weekend claimed he fired Siebert because the prosecutor raised concerns about the legal viability of bringing charges against James.

“He even lied to the media and said he quit, and that we had no case. I fired him, and there is a GREAT CASE, and many lawyers, and legal pundits, say so,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform after Seibert resigned.

Seibert’s office spent months investigating James but concluded there was insufficient evidence to support bringing criminal charges.

In addition to the James probe, the Eastern District of Virginia is investigating Comey over claims that he lied under oath while testifying before Congress during Trump’s first term. 

Trump has repeatedly vowed to seek revenge against James, who won a multi-million dollar judgment against the Trump Organization, and Comey, who has become a prominent Trump critic.

Halligan’s background is in insurance law, but her profile rose among Trump’s inner circle after she joined his defense team during the FBI’s Mar-a-Lago search in 2022. She later became special assistant to Trump, taking on ideological projects such as reviewing federal museums for what Trump called “improper ideology.”

Trump’s order to Bondi, his ouster of Seibert and appointment of Halligan marked an escalation of Trump’s longrunning effort to obliterate DOJ’s independence to use it as an arm of his sprawling revenge campaign against his perceived enemies, former prosecutors have said. 

“Trump wants to skip constitutional safeguards in order to carry out retribution,” John McKay, a former U.S. attorney in Seattle who served during the administration of President George W. Bush, told Democracy Docket. “That is unconstitutional. That is unlawful. Everyone should be speaking up about it, especially including the public in nonviolent ways.” 

McKay was one of nine U.S. attorneys ousted by the White House for politically motivated reasons during the Bush administration. The scandal led to a congressional investigation and ultimately the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

“In my case, when I was fired by Alberto Gonzales as U.S. attorney in Seattle, they lied about the reason for doing it because they didn’t want anyone to think they were doing it for political reasons,” McKay said. “But now, they’re saying it right out loud. They’re saying, ‘We are doing it for political reasons. That is unlawful. That is unethical. It violates due process. And we have to speak out against it.’” 

McKay added that Trump’s directive to Bondi and the forced ouster of Siebert was “characteristic of authoritarianism and fascism.”

“​​I don’t think Siebert will be the last one to be fired,” Stacey Young, the executive director and founder of Justice Connection, a support network for DOJ alumni, told Democracy Docket  “I don’t think this seemingly unqualified nominee is going to be the last unqualified nominee we’ll see,” 

“And I’m worried about how far this is going to go,” Young added. “Every prosecutor in the DOJ now understands that if there’s a case where they don’t think they will have enough evidence to convict one of the president’s enemies, they’ll probably be fired too.”

The Society for the Rule of Law Institute, a center-right legal organization founded by prominent former DOJ officials, in a statement denounced Trump’s treatment of Siebert and his weaponization of the Justice Department.

“The resignation of U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert marks a new low point in the ongoing corruption of the Justice Department by a White House intent on using federal resources – not to defend the Constitution and the Rule of Law – but to persecute political critics and reward presidential sycophants,” the Society said.

James’ attorney, Abbe Lowell, called the effort to oust Seibert and replace him with a loyalist “an act of political revenge.”

“The Justice Department has firm policies against using investigations and against using prosecutorial power for achieving political ends,” Lowell said after Seibert submitted his resignation. “This is ever more the case when that demand is made to seek political revenge against a public official in the opposite party.”

The mortgage fraud allegations against James stemmed in part from a preliminary loan document obtained by Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency who has recently become one of Trump’s favored attack dogs. He has leveled similar accusations against Schiff and Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook, who stands in the way of Trump’s attempted takeover of the central bank.

Trump’s appointment of Halligan is a continuation of his unprecedented move to populate the DOJ with his former attorneys. 

In addition to Halligan, Bondi, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Todd Blanche, Solicitor General John Sauer, temporary U.S. Attorney of New Jersey Alina Habba, and temporary U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York John Sarcone are either former Trump defense attorneys or represented his campaign.

Habba and Sarcone are among several loyalists atop U.S. attorneys offices across the country who have taken explicitly partisan actions in their traditionally nonpartisan roles.

Halligan’s appointment came just days after Mary Cleary, a conservative lawyer who recently said she was “framed” for participating in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, unexpectedly said she had been named acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. 

The federal statute governing U.S. attorney vacancies holds that Halligan can legally only hold the post for 120 days. However, with other temporary U.S. attorney appointments, most prominently Habba’s, Bondi has attempted to circumvent the 120-day limit by shifting around titles.

Legal experts have warned that the effort has undermined federal law and Congress’ constitutional authority to confirm U.S. attorneys.

“It’s obvious they are trying to manipulate the law to put in place persons they think will be compliant with President Trump’s autocratic impulses,” McKay said. “They’re going to be successful in some cases. They’re going to be unsuccessful in others.”

The Eastern District of Virginia has long handled cases involving espionage, terrorism and political corruption. Now with a loyalist leading it, it may become a weapon to target Trump’s enemies.