Lindsey Halligan, a former senior White House aide with no prior experience as a prosecutor, is now out of the post that President Trump appointed her to in eastern Virginia.

Her embattled status as an interim federal prosecutor led to the dismissal of controversial Justice Department cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Trump named Halligan to the Virginia post on Sept. 21, 2025 — one day after Erik Siebert, the district's former acting U.S. attorney, resigned under pressure from Trump, including repeated calls for criminal charges against James, Comey and others he perceived as enemies.

Federal judges repeatedly stated that Halligan, who once worked as a personal attorney for Trump, had no valid basis to identify herself as the acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, ruling that her predecessor, Siebert, had already exhausted the 120-day period for an acting federal prosecutor.