Fox News host Laura Ingraham is pointing fingers after a messy courtroom implosion that wiped out indictments against two of Donald Trump’s biggest political rivals. Instead of blaming the inexperienced prosecutor who handled the case, Ingraham argued that the fault lies with Pam Bondi’s Justice Department.
The prosecutor at the center of the debacle is Lindsay Halligan, a former beauty pageant contestant and insurance lawyer who had never tried a criminal case. She became interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia in September after longtime prosecutor Erik Siebert was forced out. Siebert had refused to charge New York Attorney General Letitia James with mortgage fraud, and his exit cleared the way for Halligan’s sudden rise.
Once sworn in, Halligan moved fast. Within weeks, she brought indictments against James and another top Trump foe, former FBI Director James Comey. These were the kinds of prosecutions Trump and his allies had been demanding for years. But the excitement didn’t last long.
Once the cases hit court, defense lawyers tore into the filings and challenged whether Halligan was even legally allowed to bring them. On Monday a federal judge tossed the cases without prejudice, saying Halligan’s appointment was invalid. The ruling means prosecutors could try again, but only if they fix their legal mess.
Trump’s former impeachment attorney David Schoen appeared on Fox News with Ingraham right after the judge’s decision. He didn’t sugarcoat the situation. He called the entire meltdown “avoidable” and said someone from the Justice Department should have supervised Halligan from the start. “Quite frankly, the Justice Department should have just put somebody in the room with Lindsey Halligan,” he said. “It would have taken away all the arguments for dismissal.”
Ingraham backed him up hours later in a post on X, writing, “An avoidable BLUNDER — and DOJ knew it.” She also shared a clip of the interview, signaling that she agrees the failure was on Bondi’s team, not Halligan.
Halligan, according to reports, blindsided Bondi by pushing ahead with the indictment of James without giving the attorney general a heads-up. Once the backlash hit, Bondi scrambled to protect her. Earlier this month she tried to retroactively fix Halligan’s legal standing by naming her a “special attorney” and signing off on her grand jury actions involving Comey and James.
The effort went nowhere. Judges had already rejected similar attempts to rescue three other Trump appointed U.S. attorneys who, like Halligan, never received Senate confirmation. In their cases, at least there were backup prosecutors with valid signatures. Halligan didn’t have that luxury.
Schoen praised Halligan anyway, saying she showed courage despite being dropped into a political firestorm. His praise left out how tough it has been for the Justice Department to find lawyers willing to attach their names to charges targeting Trump’s political enemies. Defense teams have repeatedly argued that the cases are vindictive.
Fueling all of this was Trump’s own pressure campaign. In September, he accidentally posted a private message meant only for Bondi on Truth Social, demanding action against Comey, James, and Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff. “They’re all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done,” he wrote.
Trump has wanted these prosecutions for years. James led the civil fraud case that clobbered him in New York. Comey oversaw the Russia investigation. Schiff managed Trump’s first impeachment. Now the first big attempt to charge them has collapsed, and Trump’s allies are scrambling to explain how it went wrong.