Trump names Lindsey Halligan U.S. attorney for Eastern District of Virginia, presses AG Pam Bondi to pursue investigations

Donald Trump stated he is selecting his onetime lawyer Lindsey Halligan to serve as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, while calling on Attorney General Pam Bondi to step up probes of officials he considers political rivals.

In a Truth Social post announcing the move, Trump wrote: “Pam Bondi is doing a GREAT job as attorney general of the United States. She is very careful, very smart, loves our country, but needs a tough prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia, like my recommendation, Lindsey Halligan, to get things moving.”

Earlier online, in what read as a direct message to Bondi as well as a public post, Trump demanded that she appoint Halligan—described as his special assistant and a onetime beauty queen—to replace Erik Siebert, a former police officer and experienced prosecutor who resigned after finding no grounds for prosecuting New York Attorney General Letitia James. “We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility. In a post, Trump said he was impeached twice and indicted five times “over nothing,” and declared that justice should be served now.

Halligan previously served on Trump’s civil litigation team after the search of his Mar-a-Lago resort for classified documents.

It was not immediately clear whether Halligan would serve on an interim basis before a U.S. Senate confirmation vote.

Before Trump’s announcement, Mary “Maggie” Cleary, a Justice Department lawyer who has said the Biden administration targeted her for being conservative, told colleagues she had been unexpectedly tapped for the post, according to an email seen by Reuters.

According to two people familiar with the matter, Trump administration officials had told Siebert the president was frustrated that the office had not brought criminal mortgage fraud charges against James. The office is also involved in an investigation targeting former FBI Director James Comey, which is tied to the bureau’s investigation of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Regarding both officials, Siebert had previously said he did not believe the evidence was strong enough to bring charges, the sources said.