The Justice Department instructed Eastern Virginia prosecutors to name Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in court filings a day after Lindsey Halligan resigned under pressure from federal judges.
“Well, that was quick! Until further notice, please use” Blanche in the court filings’ signature block, an assistant US attorney wrote to the Eastern Virginia district’s employees Tuesday morning in an email obtained by Bloomberg Law. DOJ hasn’t announced a successor for Halligan.
The note leaves the future of the prominent DOJ office’s leadership in limbo, after the district’s chief judge forbid Halligan from staying on in a Tuesday order. It’s unclear if the department plans on installing a new interim US attorney or will follow the blueprint in New Jersey, where there remains no US attorney a month after another Trump loyalist chief prosecutor resigned due to a similar legal ruling invalidating her appointment.
Halligan, a former personal attorney to Trump with no prior prosecutorial experience, stepped down while she was pursuing cases against at least two of Trump’s perceived enemies.
The leadership vacuum in the suburban Washington office comes as other senior leaders below Halligan had resigned, been forced out, or were demoted. The most senior remaining Eastern Virginia prosecutor is Frank Bradsher, a veteran assistant US attorney from the Eastern District of North Carolina who arrived to the Alexandria, Va.-based office last fall.
DOJ representatives didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
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