Lindsey Halligan, who brought cases against James Comey and Letitia James, allegedly violated records-retention laws
A top federal prosecutor’s use of an encrypted messaging application with messages set to be automatically deleted after eight hours was potentially illegal, two watchdog groups said.
Lindsey Halligan, the interim US attorney for the eastern district of Virginia, used Signal earlier this month to communicate with Anna Bower, a journalist for Lawfare, about the criminal case she is pursuing against the New York attorney general, Letitia James. Bower published the full conversation on Monday evening and said Halligan had set messages to auto-delete after eight hours.
Top US prosecutor’s use of text message auto-delete could be illegal, watchdog groups warn
Lindsey Halligan, who brought cases against James Comey and Letitia James, allegedly violated records-retention laws
‘You’re not a journalist so it’s weird saying that but just letting you know,’ Halligan wrote
Lindsey Halligan, Trump’s hand-picked prosecutor, reached out to a reporter about her coverage of New York Attorney General Letitia James’ indictment in what became a 33-hour exchange — and then insisted the conversation was “off the record.”
Last month, Trump tapped Halligan to serve as the interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia after her predecessor resigned and reportedly found insufficient evidence to criminally prosecute James. Overseen by Halligan, James was accused earlier this month of making false statements to a financial institution in connection with a loan for a property she purchased in 2020. She has denied any wrongdoing.
The New York Times then published an expose about James’ Norfolk, Virginia, home in question. Lawfare reporter Anna Bower tweeted screenshots of the article, which seemed to poke holes in the James indictment, and added her own commentary.
In an unusual move, Halligan reached out to Bower through the encrypted app Signal. Prosecutors rarely discuss ongoing cases. Still, the pair went back-and-forth and at the end, Halligan insisted everything was “off record.”
Trump-picked prosecutor contacted reporter – then tried to claim it was ‘off record’
‘You’re not a journalist so it’s weird saying that but just letting you know,’ Halligan wrote
García, who was purportedly sent to El Salvador in error, was recently returned to the United States to face federal criminal charges.
According to legal expert Anna Bower on Sunday, “A federal magistrate judge DENIES the government’s motion to keep Kilmar Abrego Garcia in custody while his criminal charges are pending.”
“A separate order will enter, following hearing, directing Abrego’s release on conditions,” she wrote, quoting the order dated Sunday.
‘Huge news’: Judge denies Trump’s motion to keep Kilmar Abrego Garcia in custody
Electronic case filing has been a fixture in the legal profession in this country for over two decades, saving litigants the time and expense of having to mail or hand-deliver their court pleadings. One absolutely crucial step, of course, is to make sure that the document you are filing with the court is the correct one, because once filed, whatever document you uploaded into the system will usually be automatically posted in the online public court docket.
Unfortunately for the attorneys at the Department of Justice who are working on the litigation regarding the Department of Transportation’s efforts to shut down the New York City Central Business District Tolling Program (“CBDTP”), someone seems to have badly flubbed this step and failed to double-check that the right document was being filed.
In February, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy sent a letter to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul voicing President Donald Trump’s objections to the CBDTP, which imposes stiff tolls on drivers using highly trafficked Manhattan streets, with the funds going to upgrade public mass transit programs. The tolls began on January 5, charging most drivers $9 to take roads in Manhattan below 60th Street, where many popular tourist destinations like the Empire State Building and Times Square are located. New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority filed a legal challenge seeking to keep the CBDTP in place.
Wednesday evening, a new letter showed up as item number 65 in the MTA vs. Duffycourt docket, titled “LETTER addressed to Judge Lewis J. Liman from Dominika Tarczynska dated April 23, 2025 re: Administrative Record & April 20, 2025 Secretary Duffy Letter.”
What was actually filed, however, was an 11-page letter from Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tarczynska, David Farber, and Christine S. Poscablo addressed to Erin Hendrixson, the senior trial attorney at DOT regarding the case.
In the letter, the DOJ attorneys spell out multiple fundamental weaknesses with the federal government’s case, stating that there was “considerable litigation risk in defending” Secretary Duffy’s actions against the CBDTP, it was “unlikely that Judge Liman or further courts of review will accept the [federal government’s] argument that the CBDTP was not a statutorily authorized ‘value pricing’ pilot under the Value Pricing Pilot Program,” and “neither” of the DOT’s main defenses were “likely to convince the Court.”
Court watchers quickly pounced Wednesday evening after realizing what the DOJ had filed, mocking both the document mixup and the admissions that the federal government’s case was fundamentally flawed.
Sounds as though the Department of Justice is outsourcing their legal work to Three Stooges Law Offices PA!
DOJ Attorneys Brutally Mocked for Accidentally Filing Letter Admitting Weaknesses of Case in Public Docket
Court watchers quickly pounced Wednesday evening after realizing what the DOJ had filed, mocking both the document mixup and the admissions that the federal government’s case was fundamentally flawed.
