Mary Rooke Commentary and Analysis Writer
U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan, appointed by President Donald Trump as interim head of the Eastern District of Virginia office in September, moved with speed and precision to secure high-profile indictments, despite naysayers claiming she wasn’t qualified for the job.
Between September and October, numerous reports from Democratic lawmakers, former prosecutors, legal experts, and media outlets highlighted Halligan’s supposed lack of prosecutorial experience. They questioned her qualifications to serve as interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia shortly after her appointment, following the ouster of her predecessor, Erik Siebert.
The House Judiciary Committee’s Democrats launched an investigation into Siebert’s firing/resignation and Halligan’s appointment, explicitly requesting U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) documents on her selection due to her lack of “prior experience as a prosecutor.”
Outlets such as The New York Times, Mother Jones, The Guardian, Politico, and CNN ran stories labeling her “wildly unqualified,” a “deeply unqualified pawn,” noting her “lack of prosecutorial experience” as a stark departure from DOJ norms. Criminal defense attorney Duncan Levin told MSNBC that her lack of experience was “devastating for morale” at the DOJ, with staff reportedly resisting her directives on politically charged cases. (Sign up for Mary Rooke’s weekly newsletter here!)
Still, Halligan, a former personal attorney to Trump, presented three bombshell cases to grand juries, securing high-profile indictments from former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and State Department employee Ashley Tellis.
LINDSAY HALLIGAN DROPS THE HAMMER 🔥@ClayTravis – While the DOJ’s been asleep at the wheel, Halligan’s out here holding corrupt Dems accountable 💪🇺🇸
“If the jury does its job… ‘Tish’ James is gonna be found GUILTY.” ⚖️💥 pic.twitter.com/Zhj1JMPnpL
— OutKick (@Outkick) October 15, 2025
Comey was indicted in September on two felony counts, including making false statements and obstruction of a congressional proceeding. The charges center on Comey’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in September 2020, when he allegedly lied about not authorizing an anonymous source to leak information to news outlets regarding an FBI investigation. The obstruction charge alleges that these false and misleading statements corruptly impeded the committee’s inquiry powers. If convicted, Comey faces up to five years in prison.
James was indicted in October by a federal grand jury on one count of bank fraud and one count of making false statements to a financial institution. The allegations focus on a 2020 mortgage for a property in Suffolk, Virginia, where James is accused of falsely claiming it as her primary residence to obtain a lower interest rate and better terms from lenders, while allegedly intending to use it as a rental. Additional claims include underreporting units in a Brooklyn multifamily property and falsely stating she was her father’s spouse on a mortgage application. If convicted, James faces up to 30 years in prison per count, fines up to $1 million each, and forfeiture.
NEW: The Letitia James saga just got weirder.
Her great-niece became a fugitive from North Carolina cops after moving to James’ Virginia house that became the focus of the DOJ’s fraud case, docs show.
She also managed to rack up a long rap sheet in Virginia. pic.twitter.com/PQUNM1DeqA
— Hudson Crozier 🇺🇸 (@Hudson_Crozier) October 14, 2025
Tellis, a 64-year-old senior adviser at the State Department and senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, was charged Oct. 12 with unlawfully retaining classified national defense information. Tellis, who has held a top-secret clearance since 2001, is accused of removing classified documents from secure facilities and storing them at his home in Vienna, Virginia.
An FBI search warrant executed Oct. 11 uncovered over 1,000 pages of “top secret” or “secret” documents in locked cabinets, on a desk, and in trash bags in his basement. Specific evidence includes surveillance footage from September showing Tellis accessing and printing a 1,288-page classified file on U.S. Air Force tactics at the State Department, renaming it “Econ Reform,” printing portions, and deleting it. Additional footage from a secure compartmented information facility (SCIF) in Alexandria, Virginia, captured him concealing “top secret” documents in notepads and a briefcase before leaving. If convicted, Tellis faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
🚨 BREAKING: State Department employee accused of removing classified docs from secure locations, meeting with Chinese officials pic.twitter.com/c9UqKXNzMT
— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 14, 2025
Halligan has been on the job for less than a month. Still, her tenure has been nothing short of exemplary so far, wasting no time in delivering results by holding powerful elites accountable who have evaded justice for too long. (ROOKE: Obama Official Says Trump Was Right On Left’s Favorite Narrative For Months)
Trump often gets attacked for his picks, but Halligan seems to be keeping her head down and doing the work that needs to get done.
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