Florida Bar walks back claim of Halligan investigation, says earlier letter was an error

The Florida Bar is not investigating Lindsey Halligan. That's the official word as of March 6, one day after a left-wing watchdog group published a February letter from the Bar that said the opposite. The Bar now says that letter was written "erroneously." A complaint exists. Monitoring is happening. But an investigation? Never mind.

The story of Halligan's rise and fall at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia is already complicated enough. Now add a bar association that can't keep its own correspondence straight, and a pressure group treating a clerical error as a smoking gun.

What the Bar actually said

On February 4, the Florida Bar sent a letter to a complainant stating, "We already have an investigation pending," and adding that it was "aware of these developments and have been monitoring them closely." That letter sat quietly until March 5, when the Campaign for Accountability published it and framed it as confirmation that Halligan faced a formal bar investigation.

The Florida Bar moved quickly to correct the record. Communications director Jennifer Krell Davis issued a statement the following day:

"In response to an inquiry from a complainant, The Florida Bar wrote a letter to the complainant erroneously stating that there is a pending Bar investigation of member Lindsay (sic) Halligan. There is no such pending Bar investigation."

Davis clarified that the Bar received a complaint and is, consistent with standard practice, monitoring the ongoing legal proceedings underlying the complaint. Monitoring is not investigating. The distinction matters, as USA Today reports.

The Campaign for Accountability's reaction

The Campaign for Accountability, the left-aligned watchdog group that originally filed bar complaints in both Florida and Virginia, was not satisfied. Executive Director Michelle Kuppersmith responded:

"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. 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 Campaign for Accountability filed complaints specifically to generate exactly this kind of pressure. Publishing a letter, issuing a statement of disbelief, and implying bad faith in a correction is the playbook. The organization exists to use legal and regulatory mechanisms against political opponents of the left. That doesn't mean their complaints are always wrong, but it does mean their outrage should be weighed accordingly.

How Halligan got here

Attorney General Pam Bondi named Halligan, a former personal lawyer to President Trump, to lead the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia in September 2025. Her predecessor, Erik Siebert, had expressed skepticism about pursuing charges against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Trump publicly said he fired Siebert. Bondi issued an order authorizing Halligan to serve as interim head of the office.

Halligan moved fast. Within weeks of her appointment, her office secured indictments against both Comey and James. Two months later, those charges were dismissed after a federal judge ruled she had been unlawfully appointed to the role.

Senior U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie wrote the opinion concluding that only a district court held the power to appoint a new head to the Eastern District, and that Halligan's actions as prosecutor had to be set aside because she was never lawfully in the role. Judge David Novak ordered Halligan on January 6 to explain why she was still identifying herself as a U.S. attorney. On January 20, Novak threatened disciplinary proceedings if she continued using the title. The following day, Bondi announced her departure.

A mess the left is eager to exploit

There is a legitimate legal question buried in this story about the proper mechanism for appointing interim U.S. attorneys. The Department of Justice appealed the ruling against Halligan's appointment, so that question isn't settled. Courts will work through it.

What the Campaign for Accountability wants is something different. They want Halligan disbarred or sanctioned, not because they care about bar ethics, but because she prosecuted their allies. Comey and James are left-wing icons. The complaints exist to punish the prosecutor, not protect the profession.

The Florida Bar's erroneous letter handed them a brief moment of apparent validation. The correction took that away. Kuppersmith's statement, heavy on rhetorical questions and light on new facts, signals that the campaign will press on regardless.

The Florida Bar got ahead of itself in February, and it corrected the record promptly when pressed. That's how institutions are supposed to work. A watchdog group turning a clerical error into a political story is not a scandal. It's Tuesday.