A Trump-appointed prosecutor tried to argue that the messages to the reporter criticizing her coverage were “off the record.” But she was too late.
Lindsey Halligan, a former insurance lawyer who Trump appointed as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia in September, reached out to Lawfare senior editor Anna Bower earlier this month, Bower revealed Monday.
The topic was Bower’s coverage – specifically, her X posts about what The New York Times. has already reported on Halligan’s pursuit of Attorney General Letitia James, one of President Donald Trump’s alleged political enemies.
Halligan is a former Miss Colorado USA contestant who served as Donald Trump’s personal attorney while he was out of office. / Al Drago / Getty Images
James is accused of misrepresenting the purpose of her second property, this one in Virginia, allegedly telling lenders it would be a “second home” but instead using it as a “rental investment property.”
James denies wrongdoing and calls the allegations “baseless” and “nothing more than a continuation of the president’s desperate weaponization of our justice system.”
Halligan, Bower writes, preceded her comments with nothing “to indicate that they are not ‘on the record.'” It was only after Bower went to the Justice Department’s Office of Public Affairs on Monday with a series of questions about the prosecution and Halligan’s communications with her that Halligan tried to argue that anything she shared was inappropriate.
Halligan had no prosecutorial experience before Trump appointed her. She has since helped lead the indictment of James and former FBI Director James Comey. / MARCO BELLO / AFP via Getty Images.
“By the way, everything I’ve ever sent you is unrecorded,” Halligan texted Bower via Signal, in which Halligan decided to delete the messages after eight hours. “You’re not a journalist, so it’s strange to say that, but only to report.”
“I’m sorry, but that’s not how it works,” Bower replied, according to screenshots of the conversation. – You can’t say that in retrospect.
Halligan insisted: “Yes, I do.
“I am truly sorry. I would be happy to speak to you off the record if you would like,” Bower replied. “But you didn’t ask, and I still haven’t agreed to speak on that basis. Do you have any further comments for this story?
Halligan then claimed it was “obvious” that the entire conversation was off the record.
“There are messages disappearing and this is a signal. What is your story? You never told me a story,” she wrote.
Bower then published the story.
“You obviously didn’t get the answer you wanted, which was information that was passed on to you without digging into the facts of the case to create the right story, so you thought you were going to ‘talk’ to mainstream justice,” Bower said in a Justice Department statement.
“Lindsay [sic] Halligan tried to give you facts, not gossip, but by explaining that she will abide by the rule of law and not reveal information to the Grand Jury, you are threatening to leak the entire conversation. Good luck getting someone to talk to you when you publish their texts.
The Daily Beast reached out to the DOJ and the White House to ask if Halligan knows how the “off the record” works and if she plans to continue talking to reporters.
Bower writes that she sought specific information from Halligan about exactly what the problem was with her Oct. 11 report. records about Times‘ story.
After several exchanges, Bower wrote to Halligan that she wasn’t sure what Halligan thought was wrong “about the NY Times account or my summary of it.” Halligan then replied:
“You’re biased. Your reports are not accurate. I’m on the case and I’m telling you that. If you want to twist and torture the facts to fit your narrative, there’s nothing I can do. It’s a waste to even warn you.”
The New York Times. defended his story.
“We are confident in the accuracy of our reports,” a spokesperson told Lawfare. “The DOJ declined to comment prior to publication and has not raised any concerns with us since the story was published more than a week ago.
Additionally, Bower notes, Halligan’s unsolicited communications “seemed uncharacteristically risky to a government lawyer.”
Before being appointed to prosecute James and former FBI Director James Comey, Halligan, a former contestant in the Miss Colorado USA pageant, had never tried a case. Experienced prosecutors felt that neither case was meritorious.
Bower, via CNN Source also said later Monday night that it was “very strange” that Halligan had addressed the subject.
“I would have been happy to talk to her if she had suggested it,” Bower added. “But she didn’t, so I was very surprised when she suddenly said it was all off the record, when in fact it wasn’t.”