FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 2, 2026

Contact: Michael Clauw, mclauw@campaignforaccountability.org, 202.780.5750

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Campaign for Accountability (CfA) renewed its request for the Virginia State Bar to investigate former Acting U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan for multiple potential violations of professional conduct rules during her brief, four-month tenure leading the Eastern District of Virginia. CfA also shared the new complaint with the Florida Bar, where Halligan is licensed.

On November 14, 2025, the Virginia State Bar declined to investigate CfA’s original November 11 complaint, claiming it was up to the courts, not the Bar, to determine whether Ms. Halligan had made false statements in violation of the rules of conduct.

Now that three federal courts have issued scathing rulings finding that Ms. Halligan’s appointment violated both federal law and the U.S. Constitution, that she defied clear judicial orders by continuing to represent herself as U.S. Attorney after being told she lacked legal authority to do so, and that she made “fundamental misstatements of the law” to a grand jury that “could compromise the integrity of the grand jury process,” CfA once again asked the Bar to act.

CfA Executive Director Michelle Kuppersmith stated, “Two federal judges found that Ms. Halligan operated without legal authority, with one finding she openly defied court orders, and another concluded she misled a grand jury. Contrary to the Virginia State Bar’s claims, it has the authority and must act to investigate these serious allegations and hold Ms. Halligan accountable.”

Read CfA’s renewed complaint.

On November 17, 2025, Magistrate Judge William E. Fitzpatrick found Halligan had made “fundamental misstatements of the law that could compromise the integrity of the grand jury process” in presenting the indictment against Mr. Comey to the grand jury, including impermissibly suggesting he did not have a Fifth Amendment right not to testify. The judge also found “procedural and substantive irregularities” that “may rise to the level of government misconduct resulting in prejudice to Mr. Comey.”

On November 24, 2025, Judge Cameron McGowan Currie ruled that Halligan had been unlawfully serving as U.S. Attorney since September 22, 2025, and had no lawful authority to present indictments against former FBI Director James Comey or New York Attorney General Letitia James. Despite Judge Currie’s ruling, Halligan continued signing pleadings and issuing press releases identifying herself as U.S. Attorney.

On January 6, 2026, in an unrelated matter, on his own initiative, Judge David Novak demanded that Halligan explain why she continued to sign pleadings as U.S. Attorney in violation of Judge Currie’s order, and on January 20, 2026, ordered her to cease doing so and warned that he would refer her to the Virginia Bar if she continued.

CfA alleges that by claiming to be a U.S. Attorney in violation of federal law and the U.S. Constitution, Ms. Halligan violated:

Rule 3.3(a): prohibiting false statements to a tribunal;

Rule 7.1: prohibiting false or misleading communications about the lawyer or her services;

Rule 8.4: prohibiting conduct involving dishonesty or misrepresentation;

Rule 3.4: prohibiting knowingly disobeying a ruling of a tribunal; and

Rule 1.1: failing to provide competent representation

CfA alleges that by making fundamental misstatements of law before the grand jury regarding Mr. Comey, Ms. Halligan violated Rule 3.3(a); Rule 3.4; and Rule 1.1.

Despite the Bar’s claim that it lacks jurisdiction, Virginia law entrusts the regulation and discipline of all attorneys—including prosecutors—to the Virginia State Bar. The Bar has previously disciplined prosecutors without a judicial referral, including in similar cases involving incompetence and misconduct.

Ms. Kuppersmith continued, “The Bar disciplined a Fairfax County prosecutor for suborning perjury and a Prince George’s County prosecutor for incompetence—both without judicial referrals, and the evidence against Lindsey Halligan is even more compelling. Failing to investigate under these egregious circumstances sends the message that powerful prosecutors can violate ethical rules with impunity, safe in the knowledge that the Bar will turn a blind eye.”

Campaign for Accountability is a nonpartisan, nonprofit watchdog organization that uses research, litigation, and aggressive communications to expose misconduct and malfeasance in public life and hold those who act at the expense of the public good accountable for their actions.