Trump hires lawyer ‘underestimated for her good looks’ to go after his foes

When the FBI raided Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in 2022 to search for classified documents, Lindsey Halligan was sent out to defend him on news programmes across the country.

“They looked at God-knows-what in there, and did God-knows-what in there,” she remonstrated, laying out her argument in measured tones.

With her pageant queen looks and broadcast training, she fitted the “central casting” mould of many of the president’s closest confidantes.

Now, the former Florida insurance lawyer with no prosecutorial experience, has been sworn in as one of Mr Trump’s top US attorneys, tasked with bringing charges against several of his political enemies.

Announcing Ms Halligan’s nomination as the US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Mr Trump praised his former personal lawyer on Saturday as a “tough, smart, and loyal attorney” in a gushing tribute on Truth Social, later adding that she will provide “JUSTICE FOR ALL!”

The 35-year-old is the latest of Mr Trump’s own lawyers to land plum jobs at the Department of Justice, following Pam Bondi, the attorney general, and her deputy Todd Blanche.

Yet unlike her bosses, Ms Halligan has dealt with only a handful of federal cases during her decade-long career in law, having largely worked on insurance matters in Florida.

She enters a department in disarray following the swift removal of her predecessor Erik Siebert, who was fired by Mr Trump for failing to bring charges against two of his old foes.

The expectation, as expressed by Mr Trump, is that Ms Halligan will “get things moving” in the district’s investigation into Letitia James, the New York State attorney general, and James Comey, the former FBI director, who are accused respectively of mortgage fraud and lying to congress. Both have denied the allegations.

Ms James found herself in Mr Trump’s bad books after bringing a $500 million (£370m) real estate fraud suit against the president and his children.

Mr Comey headed the FBI during its investigation into suspected Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Mr Siebert had recently raised concerns with Justice Department officials about the possibility that there may be insufficient evidence to bring charges against Ms James or Mr Comey, according to The New York Times.

The day after Mr Siebert’s resignation, Mr Trump blasted Ms Bondi in a since-deleted Truth Social, accusing her of being “all talk, no action” in pursuing prosecutions against his opponents.

In a further swipe at his attorney general, he appeared to overrule her pick to replace Mr Siebert, hailing Ms Halligan as a “really good lawyer” who “likes you, a lot”.

The Florida-lawyer has been in Mr Trump’s legal orbit for several years, defending him in the 2022 classified documents case, which was dismissed by a judge last year.

The pair first met at an event at Mr Trump’s West Palm Beach golf course in November 2021.

Having come directly from court, Ms Halligan was dressed in a suit. This caught the attention of the president, who asked what she did for a living, according to The Washington Post. Months later, he made her part of his legal team.

From pageant queen to Trump loyalist

Born to a middle-class family in Colorado, Ms Halligan competed in beauty pageants as a teenager, landing fourth place in Miss Colorado USA in 2010.

It was there she met Erika Kirk, who would later marry Charlie Kirk, the conservative activist and fellow Trump ally who was shot dead during a university campus event in Utah earlier this month.

The pair were contemporaries at Regis University in Denver, where Ms Halligan studied for an undergraduate degree in politics and broadcast journalism.

She then read law at the University of Miami and went on to work for Florida-based insurance firm Cole, Scott & Kissane, when she was first noticed by Mr Trump.

A former Miami professor told the Washington Post that Ms Halligan was “very smart, respectful and well-liked”, adding that people often underestimated her because of her good looks.

Those attributes would make her the ideal candidate to speak out for Mr Trump following the FBI’s raid on his home, when she went on Fox News to accuse the bureau of an “appalling display of abuse of power”.

A self-described history enthusiast, Ms Halligan has in recent months spearheaded the White House’s efforts to restore “truth and sanity to American history” by removing mentions of historic racism at the Smithsonian Institution.

Having moved to Washington prior to the inauguration, working first as a special assistant and senior associate staff secretary to the president, Ms Halligan allegedly brought concerns about the museum placing an “overemphasis on slavery” directly to the president.

“And so I talked to the president about it ... and suggested an executive order, and he gave me his blessing, and here we are,” Ms Halligan told The Washington Post.

Ms Halligan will now take on an extra burden of responsibility: pursuing charges against two of the notoriously fickle president’s sworn enemies.

Mr Trump has long held a vendetta against Mr Comey, branding his ‘Russiagate’ investigation a “witch hunt”.

Ms James has been one of the president’s staunchest opponents since she first ran for office in 2018. Mr Trump has repeatedly referred to her as a “lunatic” and calls her “Letitia peek-a-boo James”.

The White House has thrown its full support behind Ms Halligan, who has been dogged by media reports in recent days that she is inexperienced, describing her as “exceptionally qualified” and lauding her “proven track record of success”.

As the president piles pressure on the Justice Department, only time will tell if the latest Trump loyalist to join his fray will prove a useful attack dog beyond the television screen, or end up in his crosshairs.

[Source: Daily Telegraph]