Federal judges in Alexandria, Virginia, have lashed out at the Justice Department as they proceed to record Lindsey Halligan on court documents — some going so far as hanging her identify from paperwork from the bench.
Two Justice of the Peace judges and a district court choose in Alexandria, Virginia, advised prosecutors in open court they didn’t imagine Halligan’s identify must be on new felony case filings, equivalent to responsible plea documents and indictments, after a choice within the district final week mentioned she just isn’t the US Attorney.
One of these judges, Magistrate William Fitzpatrick, mentioned at a felony case listening to Tuesday that submitting felony charging papers “under Ms. Halligan’s name” at this time “is simply not acceptable,” in accordance with a transcript obtained by NCS.
Both Fitzpatrick and one other choose within the district, Michael Nachmanoff, advised prosecutors this week they believed the ruling was clear that Halligan wasn’t the US legal professional for all instances. They each famous, in separate hearings this week, in accordance with court transcripts, that the Justice Department hadn’t appealed the ruling about Halligan, nor requested any court to pause it for a attainable attraction.
“The law in this district right now is that she is not and has not been the United States Attorney,” Fitzpatrick mentioned on Tuesday.
The bombshell ruling final week, from Judge Cameron McGowan Currie, decided Halligan was not the US Attorney as a result of she hadn’t been Senate confirmed after 120 of a emptiness within the submit nor sworn in by the judges of the court. McGowan’s resolution additionally dismissed the felony instances towards former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, discovering Halligan’s work on them “void.”
Comey had pleaded not guilty to mendacity to Congress. James had pleaded not guilty to mortgage fraud.
Nachmanoff, who oversaw the Comey case at the trial degree, determined in a separate listening to Thursday for a Honduran man illegally within the US that Halligan’s identify would should be struck from that man’s case information.
He mentioned he was discovering it “difficult to reconcile” the court opinion with what the Justice Department is doing now, in accordance with a transcript of the listening to Thursday.
NCS reached out to the Justice Department for remark.
During different felony hearings on Tuesday, Fitzpatrick advised a prosecutor that he could be hanging Halligan’s identify from felony court documents, whereas one other choose, Magistrate Lindsey Vaala, mentioned she would annotate new indictments to acknowledge the ruling on Halligan.
The exchanges, captured on official audio recordings of the hearings and obtained first by NCS, emphasize a continued lack of formal rationalization from Justice Department headquarters about why it believes Halligan can stay within the job.
“I agree with you that it is peculiar and we are in unusual territory,” Vaala advised a special prosecutor later that afternoon, as she obtained newly permitted indictments from prosecutors and the grand jury. She mentioned “the concern” is accepting an indictment that has a signature block inconsistent with the earlier choose’s resolution.
She mentioned she would put an asterisk on the documents and “a citation to Judge Currie’s decisions.”
“That’s perfectly fine with us, your honor,” the prosecutor, Tony Roberts, replied.
A footnote is now included subsequent to Halligan’s identify on at least two new felony indictments this week, which establish the ruling on Halligan within the Comey and James instances, in accordance with court information.
Falling actions in Comey and James instances
The disarray over the Justice Department signatures on felony court filings is a part of the falling motion of the dismissal of the felony instances towards Comey and James. Halligan secured the indictments alone in a day session with a grand jury for every, just some days after President Donald Trump referred to as for the prosecution of the political foes and Attorney General Pam Bondi positioned Halligan at the US Attorney’s Office.
Since the dismissals, Justice Department management has publicly continued to again her.
Halligan’s US Attorney’s Office is predicted to try imminently to hunt a renewed grand jury indictment of Comey, for alleged false statements to Congress. A grand jury within the district declined to charge James a second time on Thursday, however the Justice Department could attempt once more, NCS reported this week.
Halligan just isn’t anticipated to spearhead these grand jury displays as she did the primary time round for every, leaving different lower-level prosecutors to deal with the instances in court.
The US Attorney’s Office has additionally tried to advise its dozens of prosecutors in at least 5 completely different inner steering emails since final week methods to signal their court filings, following the ruling on Halligan. At first, the prosecutors had been advised to take away her identify and solely record the highest profession prosecutor within the workplace, who serves as the primary assistant US Attorney.
Since then, the prosecutors have been instructed to record Halligan’s identify first at the underside of felony case filings, and in addition to record Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and the primary assistant within the signature block.
The Justice Department’s reasoning for conserving Halligan’s identify on felony filings has been skinny, from the attitude of prosecutors showing in court.
Long-time prosecutor Tony Roberts advised one choose that steering his US Attorney’s Office obtained from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, which units coverage and descriptions authorized reasoning for the manager department, mentioned to maintain Halligan’s “name as is.”
“The Office of Legal Counsel told us to put the name as is as it has been presented on these indictments. That’s what we are going on at this point,” Roberts mentioned in court on Tuesday, in accordance with court information obtained by NCS.
“I believe there’s still internal deliberation what next steps the office needs to take. I understand that it’s peculiar,” the prosecutor added. “It’s something I’ve never seen in my 35 years, but we are following the Office of Legal Counsel’s guidance on this, and it’s not just purely an in-office decision.”
A Justice official acquainted with the scenario beforehand advised NCS the DOJ ready steering after Currie’s ruling, to be despatched to everybody within the Alexandria workplace, that mentioned Halligan was still the US Attorney submit.
But prosecutors within the workplace have felt left in the dead of night, and alarmed by the judges’ escalation of questions this week, sources acquainted with the workplace now inform NCS.
“You’re in a terrible situation,” Fitzpatrick advised one of many Eastern District of Virginia prosecutors on Thursday, in accordance with the court transcripts. “And the fact that you have no guidance is tremendously disappointing, and that you have to stand here and take the brunt of this is patently unfair.”
NCS’s Evan Perez contributed to this report.