Attorney General Pam Bondi took the unusual step of trying to retroactively appoint Lindsey Halligan as Special Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia after former FBI Director James Comey claimed that her appointment was not legitimate.
Following his indictment in September, Comey filed a motion to dismiss based on the claim that Halligan’s appointment as interim United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia had been invalid.
Halligan’s appointment followed another interim U.S. attorney’s refusal to indict Comey.
“The official who purported to secure and sign the indictment was invalidly appointed to her position as interim U.S. Attorney,” Comey’s motion said.
On Monday, Bondi suggested that Comey’s indictment could not be dismissed because she retroactively appointed Halligan as “special attorney.”
“On September 22, 2025, I exercised the authority vested in the Attorney General by 28 U.S.C. § 546 to designate and appoint Lindsey Halligan as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia,” Bondi wrote in an order dated Oct. 31.
“For the avoidance of doubt as to the validity of that appointment, and by virtue of the authority vested in the Attorney General by law, including 28 U.S.C. § 509, 510, and 515, I hereby appoint Ms. Halligan to the additional position of Special Attorney, as of September 22, 2025, and thereby ratify her employment as an attorney of the Department of Justice from that date going forward,” she added.
Bondi said she also ratified “Ms. Halligan’s actions before the grand jury and her signature on the indictments returned by the grand jury in each case.”
