FINALLY Lindsey Halligan quits

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. Halligan Leaves as U.S. Attorney After Mounting Pressure From Judges

Halligan Leaves as U.S. Attorney After Mounting Pressure From Judges

For weeks, judges have pressed Ms. Halligan to explain why she continues to identify herself in court filings as the U.S. attorney, despite a ruling in November that she was unlawfully appointed to the job.


Judges took the extraordinary step of publicly appealing for applicants to replace Lindsey Halligan, whose short tumultuous tenure was marred by significant missteps in court. Evan Vucci/Associated Press

By Devlin Barrett and Glenn Thrush
Reporting from Washington
Jan. 20, 2026

Lindsey Halligan, tapped by President Trump to prosecute his enemies, has left the U.S. attorney’s office in the Eastern District of Virginia, Attorney General Pam Bondi said late Tuesday after a judge called Ms. Halligan’s bid to remain in office a “charade.” ... Ms. Bondi, who had expressed reservations about Ms. Halligan’s fitness to serve after her appointment in September, blamed the state’s Democratic senators, who used their prerogative to block appointments, for forcing the onetime Trump defense lawyer to leave her post. ... “Her departure is a significant loss,” Ms. Bondi wrote on social media. “While we feel her absence keenly, we are confident that she will continue to serve her country in other ways.”

Ms. Halligan’s nomination for a full term as U.S. attorney was pending in the Senate, but Virginia’s two senators, both Democrats, had signaled they were unlikely to back it. ... Her departure ended a bizarre monthslong standoff between the Trump administration and the federal court in eastern Virginia. For weeks, judges have pressed Ms. Halligan to explain why she continues to identify herself in court filings as the U.S. attorney, despite a ruling in November that she had been unlawfully appointed to the job.

The fight escalated sharply on Tuesday, when judges in the Eastern District of Virginia took the extraordinary step of publicly appealing for applicants to replace Ms. Halligan, whose short tumultuous tenure was marred by significant missteps in court. ... Around the same time, Judge David J. Novak, a Trump appointee, warned Ms. Halligan that continuing to file court papers in which she is listed as the U.S. attorney would be “a false statement made in direct defiance of valid court orders” ... “In short, this charade of Ms. Halligan masquerading as the United States attorney for this district in direct defiance of binding court orders must come to an end,” Judge Novak wrote.

The judge also criticized Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche over a recent court filing defending Ms. Halligan’s actions. ... The response, Judge Novak wrote, “contains a level of vitriol more appropriate for a cable news talk show and falls far beneath the level of advocacy expected from litigants in this court, particularly the Department of Justice.”

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Devlin Barrett covers the Justice Department and the F.B.I. for The Times.

Glenn Thrush covers the Department of Justice for The Times and has also written about gun violence, civil rights and conditions in the country’s jails and prisons.

A version of this article appears in print on Jan. 21, 2026, Section A, Page 16 of the New York edition with the headline: In U.S. Attorney Dispute, Judge Denounces Trump Pick for ‘Charade’. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe