Florida Bar Backtracks on Saying Halligan Is Under Investigation

The Florida Bar said it mistakenly wrote in a letter last month that it was investigating former Virginia US Attorney Lindsey Halligan.

The reversal Friday comes a day after the ethics nonprofit Campaign for Accountability announced having received a Feb. 4 letter from the state’s attorney disciplinary authority confirming an “investigation pending” in response to its complaint about Halligan.

“The Florida Bar wrote a letter to the complainant erroneously stating that there is a pending Bar investigation of member Lindsey Halligan. There is no such pending Bar investigation of Lindsey Halligan,” said spokesperson Jennifer Krell Davis. “The Florida Bar received a complaint against Lindsey Halligan and, consistent with standard practice, the Bar is monitoring the ongoing legal proceedings underlying the complaint.”

The Campaign for Accountability had sought a probe into Halligan’s potentially false statements while prosecuting former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James (D), as head of the Eastern District of Virginia’s US Attorney’s Office.

“CfA has not heard directly from the Florida Bar, but it’s hard to reconcile this latest statement with the bar counsel’s previous letter saying there is an investigation pending,” said the group’s Executive Director Michelle Kuppersmith, in a statement. “If there is no longer an investigation into Halligan, the question is why not, given that three judges indicated she engaged in conduct that appears to violate ethics rules.”

The Hill earlier reported on the Florida Bar’s correction.