This is an adapted excerpt from the Jan. 21 episode of “The Briefing with Jen Psaki.”
Do you remember Lindsey Halligan? She’s a former personal attorney to President Donald Trump, former insurance lawyer and White House staffer with no prosecutorial experience whom the president tried to install as a U.S. attorney to go after his perceived enemies.
In September, Attorney General Pam Bondi initially appointed Halligan to serve as interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia after the president’s previous interim pick resigned amid pressure to prosecute his foes.
Shortly after Halligan’s appointment, she secured indictments against two of the president’s biggest targets: New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey.
Just hours after that order, Halligan quit, leaving Trump without one of his handpicked legal puppets in the position of doing his dirty work.
But, as it turns out, installing an unqualified henchwoman to go after your political enemies is not legal.
In November, a federal judge dismissed indictments against James and Comey and officially ruled that Halligan had been unlawfully appointed.
On Tuesday evening, another federal judge ordered Halligan to stop referring to herself as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia — because legally, she was not the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
The judge then threatened disciplinary sanctions for any government lawyer who continued to refer to her as U.S. attorney in legal filings.
Wouldn’t you know it, just hours after that order, Halligan quit, leaving Trump without one of his handpicked legal puppets in the position of doing his dirty work.
We are seeing something very similar play out at the Federal Reserve.
See, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors is supposed to be independent. It is supposed to set monetary policy without taking politics into consideration.
But Trump doesn’t like that. He wants to be able to control the Fed himself.
So, for months now, he has been trying to illegally fire its board members.
Earlier this month, the Department of Justice subpoenaed the Fed and threatened a criminal indictment against its chair, Jerome Powell.
The Trump administration ginned up similarly dubious allegations against another member of the board, Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook.
But both Powell and Cook have stood their ground and refused to be forced out.
On Wednesday, the question of whether Trump can legally fire Cook was heard by the Supreme Court. After arguments concluded, it appeared that the high court is likely to rule against the president.
Now, I am sure that Trump is going to keep trying to have his way here, but the end of Halligan’s tenure brings about a good reminder that pushback, particularly in the courts, can work.
Allison Detzel contributed.
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