Florida bar launches ethics investigation into Trump-appointed US attorney

A former interim US attorney who was appointed by Donald Trump and led failed prosecutions against two of the president’s political opponents is facing an ethics investigation by the bar association in her home state of Florida.

News of the investigation against Lindsey Halligan – who temporarily served as the top federal prosecutor in the eastern district of Virginia – was contained in a February letter from the Florida bar to Campaign for Accountability executive director Michelle Kuppersmith.

Kuppersmith’s non-profit watchdog organization had previously complained to the Florida bar that Halligan breached ethical rules in the course of her work for the Trump administration. After sending follow-up correspondence about the complaint, Kuppersmith received a letter from Florida bar counsel Carlos A Leon which read in part: “We already have an investigation pending.”

A message left for an email address listed for Halligan offering the opportunity to comment on Leon’s letter, seen by the Guardian, was not immediately returned. Halligan could be stripped of her license to practice law in Florida if the state’s bar association determines she acted improperly.

Primarily known as an insurance litigator and a personal lawyer to Trump, Halligan had no prosecutorial experience when she was sworn in as the eastern district of Virginia’s US attorney in September. Trump by then had forced Halligan’s predecessor out after declining to institute criminal charges against New York attorney Letitia James and former FBI director James Comey.

Though Halligan subsequently oversaw indictments against both James and Comey, the cases were roundly criticized as politically and unduly vindictive, and federal judge Cameron McGowan Currie dismissed both prosecutions in November.

Currie ruled that Halligan’s appointment had been unlawful – and therefore she lacked the legal authority to indict James and Comey.

Attorneys general can appoint interim US attorneys to serve 120 days. But Currie determined Halligan’s appointment was unlawful since her predecessor had already served 120 days, leaving federal judges in the district with the exclusive authority to name the US attorney there.

The Senate, meanwhile, must also confirm US attorneys within 120 days of their appointment.

Lawyers for the Trump administration unsuccessfully argued that they are authorized to make consecutive interim appointments.

The Campaign for Accountability has since contended that Halligan’s unlawful appointment meant she claimed falsely to be a US attorney, violating ethics regulations. The group went on to complain to the Virginia and Florida state bar associations and then checked in with the latter of those agencies about the status of the matter in early February.

Word of the Florida investigation into Halligan began circulating after the US justice department proposed to intervene in state bar associations’ disciplinary inquiries aimed at their employees.

The proposal requested that the justice department first be allowed to complete reviewing allegations while state bar associations pause their investigations. Yet, in case of the proposal’s implementation, state bar associations would not be forced to stop their own investigations.