A progressive watchdog has asked two state bars to investigate Interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan, the Trump-appointed prosecutor driving headline-grabbing cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, alleging conduct that “appears to constitute an abuse of power” and includes “dishonesty, deceit, misrepresentation.”
In a filing to the Virginia State Bar and the Florida Bar, the Campaign for Accountability stated that Halligan violated rules on candor and competence, made improper extrajudicial statements, and brought charges “not supported by probable cause.” The complaint argues that by using the muscle of her office against two of President Donald Trump’s most visible adversaries, Halligan “undermines the integrity of the Department of Justice” and risks eroding public trust in the system.
The watchdog points to Halligan’s prosecution of Comey in the Eastern District of Virginia and her separate case against James, saying Halligan “failed in her duty to be truthful and forthright” and misled a grand jury. It continued: “By providing the grand jury with misrepresentations material to establishing the elements of the charged offenses, and by filing an indictment containing material misrepresentations,” the complaint states, Halligan “appears to have made false statements of material fact.” Both Comey and James have pleaded not guilty.
The complaint also flags Halligan’s communications habits, the group says Halligan discussed the James case with journalist Anna Bower over Signal and set messages to auto-delete, behavior that may run afoul of Justice Department record-retention rules and the Federal Records Act. Bower has previously reported that Halligan attempted to challenge her reporting without establishing ground rules for an off-the-record exchange.
Lindsay Halligan, the newly-installed US Attorney prosecuting James Comey at President Trump’s direction, is an insurance attorney and a Miss Colorado finalist. She has never prosecuted a case. https://t.co/K0r3XMYUsz
— Kyle Clark (@KyleClark) September 26, 2025
Halligan’s rapid ascent is itself part of the controversy as President Trump tapped his former personal lawyer to lead the powerful Eastern District of Virginia in September, a move critics say bypassed institutional guardrails. Within days, Halligan secured an indictment of Comey, then followed with an indictment of James two weeks later, steps that career prosecutors had reportedly advised against. A federal judge is already weighing challenges to her appointment and authority.
The Justice Department has defended Halligan’s standing, noting that Attorney General Pam Bondi designated her a “special attorney,” language the department says shuts down appointment challenges. Still, the legal fights over who can prosecute whom, and on what basis, have become inseparable from the ethics complaints now landing at the bar’s doorstep.
Campaign for Accountability’s executive director, Michelle Kuppersmith, put the stakes bluntly. Halligan’s actions, she said, “appear to constitute an abuse of power and serve to undermine the integrity of the Department of Justice,” and if left unchecked would “erode public confidence in the legal profession and the fair administration of justice.” The group is asking bar authorities to investigate possible violations, including rules that prohibit prosecutors from pursuing charges they know are unsupported by probable cause.
State bar probes can take months or years, and many complaints end without discipline. But the filing adds fresh heat around prosecutions that have already drawn claims of retaliation from the defendants, while keeping Halligan, and the White House that elevated her, in the glare of a fight over law, politics, and the boundaries of power.
