\n<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON — <\/span>Justice Department officials on Tuesday accused a federal judge of abusing his power in demanding that Trump loyalist Lindsey Halligan explain why she continues to identify herself as a U.S. Attorney in Virginia despite another judge’s ruling that she was illegally appointed.<\/p>\n Halligan secured charges against former FBI Director James Comey<\/a> and New York Attorney General Letitia James<\/a> at President Donald Trump\u2019s urging before U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie decided in November that both cases must be dismissed due to Halligan’s invalid appointment. <\/p>\n Last Tuesday, U.S. District Judge David Novak in Richmond, Virginia, ordered Halligan<\/a> to explain in writing why it isn’t false or misleading for her to continue identifying herself as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia after Currie’s ruling.<\/p>\n In a strongly worded response co-signed by Halligan, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, they argued that nothing in Currie’s order prohibits Halligan from acting as U.S. Attorney or using that title.<\/p>\n \u201cThe bottom line is that Ms. Halligan has not \u2018misrepresented\u2019 anything and the Court is flat wrong to suggest that any change to the Government\u2019s signature block is warranted in this or any other case,\u201d they wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n Novak, who was nominated to the bench by Trump during his first term in the White House, is a former federal prosecutor. He overlapped for a time in the Eastern District of Virginia with Comey, who was previously a supervisor in that office.<\/p>\n Halligan, a former White House aide with no prior prosecutorial experience, was Trump\u2019s pick to lead one of the Justice Department\u2019s most important offices. She replaced Erik Siebert, a veteran prosecutor who resigned in September as interim U.S. Attorney amid Trump administration pressure to file charges against both Comey and James.<\/p>\n A grand jury indicted Comey three days after Bondi swore in Halligan. James was charged two weeks later.<\/p>\n In an unrelated criminal case, Novak questioned why he shouldn’t strike Halligan’s name from the indictment. He cited court rules that make it professional misconduct for attorneys to make false or misleading statements.<\/p>\n In their response, the Justice Department officials said Novak’s \u201cfixation on a signature block title is untethered from how federal courts actually operate.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cThe Court\u2019s thinly veiled threat to use attorney discipline to cudgel the Executive Branch into conforming its legal position in all criminal prosecutions to the views of a single district judge is a gross abuse of power and an affront to the separation of powers,” they wrote.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n