Lindsey Halligan, President Donald Trump’s handpicked U.S. attorney in one of many nation’s most essential federal prosecutor outlets, was successfully arrange to fail final Thursday, sources mentioned, when in her first ever presentation earlier than a grand jury, she satisfied the panel to indict former FBI Director James Comey on two of three counts.
The Justice Department and the seasoned attorneys on the Eastern District of Virginia US Attorney’s Office, recognized for its aggressive authorities leak and nationwide safety prosecutions, had collectively turned their nostril up on the case, with many believing the proof wasn’t sturdy sufficient to support felony fees.
DOJ headquarters declined to present attorneys to help Halligan, and FBI brokers and attorneys working to put together her had been denied their request for a para-legal skilled to help within the presentation, in accordance to two individuals conversant in the matter.
“Lindsey was set up to fail,” one of many sources conversant in the discussions mentioned. “She was the lamb sent to slaughter.”
But Halligan — a former non-public lawyer for Trump who arrived earlier in the week to take the helm in Alexandria, Virginia-based district after the president fired his earlier nominee — defied the chances.
If the hassle had failed, it may have struck a serious blow to Trump in his ongoing efforts to search the prosecution of his political enemies over the objections of profession prosecutors and even some political appointees.
“President Trump stands by Attorney General Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Blanche, and U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan,” White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt informed NCS in an announcement. “The President appreciates everyone’s efforts to restore accountability in our justice system.”
“Lindsey Halligan is fully supported by the Attorney General, Deputy Attorney General, and the entire team at Main Justice,” mentioned DOJ spokesman Chad Gilmartin.
Halligan declined to remark.
When Trump ousted Halligan’s predecessor, Erik Siebert, he made it clear he needed Comey and different political enemies prosecuted. That made the case much more poisonous for profession prosecutors who had been wrangling for months over the power of proof with FBI investigators.
Last Tuesday, Halligan started a crash course to put together. Justice officers informed her that the deputy attorney basic’s workplace didn’t have attorneys to assist her, and that it was in opposition to federal guidelines of felony process for one of many attorneys from Justice headquarters to be within the grand jury room, one supply conversant in the discussions mentioned.
An administration official pushed again on the sources’ rivalry that Halligan did not have assist from the Justice headquarters. Officials argued that Halligan was in contact personally with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche a number of occasions, together with visiting the Department of Justice for conferences through the week main up to her presentation, even when she lacked support from decrease stage attorneys with extra expertise within the grand jury room in Alexandria. The supply added that Halligan and Blanche spoke after the indictment was issued.
Blanche and Attorney General Pam Bondi had earlier expressed qualms in regards to the case, citing considerations raised in a memo produced by prosecutors who had spent months on the case, in accordance to individuals conversant in the matter.
Instead, Halligan spent hours making ready with a bunch that included FBI attorneys and the brokers who had led the investigation, the sources mentioned.
Halligan participated in quite a lot of “practice runs” and spent hours going by way of the reveals in preparation, the sources mentioned.
A former Florida insurance coverage lawyer, Halligan has solely ever appeared formally in federal courtroom on three instances — all lawsuits the place she represented Trump, all within the Southern District of Florida, in 2022 and 2023. (One was in opposition to NCS, which was dismissed.)
Halligan, who was alone through the presentation, operated the reveals herself, sources informed NCS.
The grand jury rejected one depend, for allegedly making a false assertion, of the three Halligan offered. But a majority – 14 of 23 – voted in favor of two counts, one other a false statement charge and one for obstructing a congressional continuing, courtroom paperwork present.
At a public listening to to hand up the indictment, Halligan bumped into some bother with Magistrate Judge Lindsey Vaala, as captured by the courtroom reporter’s transcript. The choose was puzzled about Halligan’s submitting two totally different set of paperwork, one with two authorised counts and one displaying the three counts.
“So this has never happened before,” Vaala mentioned. “There seems to be discrepancy.”
Halligan informed the choose she had solely reviewed and signed one doc with the 2 counts authorised by jurors. “I did not see the other one. I don’t know where that came from,” she mentioned.
The choose, nonetheless puzzled, mentioned: “Okay. It has your signature on it.”
Halligan responded: “Okay. Well…”
Getting a grand jury — a bunch of residents picked to approve sure investigative steps and log out on felony instances — to hand up an indictment is mostly not thought-about tough. Some within the authorized occupation joke {that a} prosecutor may persuade such a panel to indict a ham sandwich. That’s partly as a result of it’s a one-sided course of with solely the federal government’s case offered.
But within the second Trump time period, some grand juries have revolted in opposition to perceptions that the Justice Department is being heavy handed in charging instances, declining to hand up indictments. This consists of the case of a person who allegedly threw a sub-style sandwich at a federal agent amid tensions over Trump’s takeover of the Washington, DC, police. The alleged sandwich thrower was later charged with a misdemeanor in a continuing that doesn’t require a grand jury.
But that Halligan succeeded in getting two counts handed up shocked Justice officers, who nonetheless instantly sought to have fun.
Shortly after Halligan emerged from the courtroom Attorney General Pam Bondi issued an announcement on X, declaring: “No one is above the law.”
In an administration the place being fast to publish on social media is prized, the transfer irritated Halligan and FBI officers who felt that prime Justice officers had been seeming to take credit score for an indictment some believed that they had sought to doom, in accordance to sources briefed on the matter.
A Justice spokesman additionally issued an announcement after the indictment saying “there was no hesitation on behalf of the attorney general to pursue an indictment.”
Halligan nonetheless faces steep hurdles in prosecuting Comey, who will seem in courtroom for the primary time subsequent week.
Perjury instances involving Congress are notoriously tough, partly as a result of lawmakers typically are sloppy in asking questions of witnesses. Trump’s repeated feedback on the case and his firing of Halligan’s predecessor could help defense lawyers argue the prosecution is politically motivated.
If the case makes it to trial, it’s nonetheless an open query who will lead the prosecution in courtroom.
Asked about who would strive the case, Blanche, in an interview Monday on Newsmax, mentioned, “We’re still working about on that… I mean Lindsey Halligan is a great lawyer … And so what she ultimately decides to do with the actual prosecution of the case is something that’s it’s really up to her and her judgment, and so we’ll see how that plays out over the next couple weeks.”