An over-the-top crazy tale of a reporter and the U.S. Attorney prosecuting Comey

This is a story that has gotten a lot of play over the past couple of days.

Lindsey Halligan, the inexperienced interim US Attorney in Virginia who is personally prosecuting the criminal case against former FBI Director James Comey, initiated a text conversation with Anna Bower, a lawyer and senior editor at Lawfare, concerning the case. Not only initiated, but texted multiple times over a couple of days, much to the amazement of the reporter. Halligan is an insurance lawyer with zero experience as a prosecutor, but who was named interim US Attorney for Eastern Virginia by President Trump after her predecessor determined there was not enough evidence to support an indictment of Comey.

Then along came Lindsey, and an indictment was quickly filed.

Here are a few of the published stories about this bizarre string of text messages.

Lindsey Halligan sends multiple texts to legal reporter, The Hill

Reporter publishes ‘unsolicited’ texts from Trump’s handpicked prosecutor, CNN

Interim U.S. Attorney’s Angry Texts To Reporter Revealed, HuffPost

But most amazing is the reporter’s own recounting of the experience (“Anna, Lindsey Halligan Here.” My Signal exchange with the interim U.S. attorney about the Letitia James grand jury).

Her version begins:

It was 1:20 p.m. on the afternoon of Saturday, Oct. 11. I was lounging in my pajamas, idly scrolling through Netflix, having spent the morning reading news stories, occasionally tweeting, and watching TV. It was a rare day off.

Then my phone lit up with a notification. I glanced down at the message.

“Anna, Lindsey Halligan here,” it began.

Lindsey Halligan—the top prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia—was texting me. As it turned out, she was texting me about a criminal case she is pursuing against one of the president’s perceived political enemies: New York Attorney General Letitia James.

So began my two-day text correspondence with the woman President Donald Trump had installed, in no small part, to bring the very prosecution she was now discussing with me by text message.

Over the next 33 hours, Halligan texted me again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

I’m still shaking my head after reading her version of events.

And Bower then discussed her story in a video podcast with Lawfare editor in chief, Ben Wittes. It’s a hoot.


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One thought on “An over-the-top crazy tale of a reporter and the U.S. Attorney prosecuting Comey

  1. ES

    This looks like a politician seeking an ally in the press, and failing. Halligan is reaching pretty far back in her past to a distant connection at a niche publication. This is not the mark of one confident in her position or her case, but rather an attempt to marshal scraps of power and influence.

    Reply

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