{"id":2501523,"date":"2025-10-21T16:16:02","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T20:16:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/texts-from-james-prosecutor-dont-violate-ethics-rules-experts-say\/"},"modified":"2025-10-21T16:19:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T20:19:19","slug":"texts-from-james-prosecutor-dont-violate-ethics-rules-experts-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/texts-from-james-prosecutor-dont-violate-ethics-rules-experts-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Texts from James prosecutor don\u2019t violate ethics rules, experts say"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftexts-from-james-prosecutor-dont-violate-ethics-rules-experts-say%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2501523&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article discusses the revelation of private Signal messages sent by Lindsey Halligan, the interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia appointed by former president Donald Trump, to reporter Anna Bower. Halligan contacted Bower to dispute parts of her reporting on the indictment of New York Attorney General Letitia james, asserting that some information was incorrect. Even though these direct messages raised concerns and <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >drew social media criticism<\/a>,legal experts and former federal prosecutors have stated that Halligan&#8217;s actions do not constitute an ethical violation. They view the exchange as an inexperienced prosecutor&#8217;s attempt to correct perceived misinformation without disclosing any confidential grand-jury material. The Department of Justice has defended Halligan, emphasizing her commitment to her role. While the controversy might be used by James&#8217;s defense to question Halligan&#8217;s judgment, experts agree that there is no substantial legal basis to challenge the ongoing prosecution. letitia James has denied wrongdoing and is expected to plead not guilty in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/federal-court-is-fast-tracking-sidney-powells-request-for-a-forensic-exam-of-dominion-voting-machines\/\" title=\"Federal Court Is Fast-Tracking Sidney Powell\u2019s Request For A Forensic Exam Of Dominion Voting Machines\">federal court<\/a>.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Leaked Signal texts from Letitia James prosecutor don&rsquo;t <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/obama-ethics-chief-blasts-joe-biden-for-touting-his-sons-upcoming-book-not-acceptable\/\" title=\"Obama ... Chief Blasts Joe Biden For Touting His Son\u2019s Upcoming Book: \u2018Not Acceptable\u2019\">violate ethics rules<\/a>, experts say<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2374608\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3819179\/trump-ally-assumes-virginia-prosecutor-post-after-letitia-james-case-scuffle\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Lindsey Halligan<\/a>, the interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia appointed by President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Donald Trump<\/a>, is facing new scrutiny after a reporter posted private messages Halligan sent to her.<\/p>\n<p>However, legal experts say the exchange was, at worst, an unpolished effort by an inexperienced prosecutor to counter faulty reporting, not a breach of ethics. According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/26190909-signal-screenshots\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">screenshots<\/a> published by&nbsp;<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lawfaremedia.org\/article\/anna--lindsey-halligan-here\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Lawfare<\/a><\/em>, Halligan contacted reporter Anna Bower on Oct. 11 through the encrypted messaging app Signal to dispute portions of Bower&rsquo;s coverage of the government&rsquo;s indictment of New York Attorney General Letitia James (D).<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3858449\/sandwich-guy-arrested-for-assaulting-cbp-agent-asks-for-charges-to-be-dismissed\/\">&#8216;Sandwich guy&#8217; arrested for assaulting CBP agent asks for charges to be dismissed<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3858087\/texas-jps-health-network-faces-federal-civil-rights-complaint\/\">Texas healthcare network faces federal civil rights complaint over &#8216;illegal DEI&#8217; programs<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3857945\/dc-national-guard-winterizing-preparation-possible-deployment-extension-america-250\/\">DC National Guard &#8216;winterizing&#8217; to prepare for possible extension until &#8216;America 250&#8217;<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">FILE &ndash; Lindsey Halligan, special assistant to the president, speaks with a reporter outside of the White House, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Jacquelyn Martin, File)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&ldquo;Anna, Lindsey Halligan here,&rdquo; she wrote. &ldquo;You are reporting things that are simply not true. Thought you should have a heads up.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The two exchanged intermittent messages over roughly 33 hours, with Halligan insisting Bower had misrepresented facts drawn from a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/10\/11\/us\/politics\/letitia-james-indictment-house.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>New York Times<\/em>&nbsp;story<\/a> about the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/cnn-legal-analyst-says-theres-no-defending-the-cheap-shot-jack-smith-just-took-against-trump\/\" title=\"CNN Legal Analyst Says There&#039;s &#039;No Defending&#039; the &#039;Cheap Shot&#039; Jack Smith Just Took Against Trump\">grand-jury testimony<\/a> of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3850002\/letitia-jamess-grandniece-willfully-avoiding-probation-living-in-virginia-home\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">James&rsquo;s grand-niece<\/a>. Halligan urged the reporter to read the indictment for herself but added, &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t tell you grand-jury stuff,&rdquo; signaling awareness of confidentiality limits.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-why-the-signal-text-exchange-matters\">Why the Signal text exchange matters<\/h2>\n<p>The&nbsp;<em>Lawfare<\/em>&nbsp;piece that first disclosed the texts cast Halligan&rsquo;s outreach as a potential ethical lapse, though it cited no legal experts to support that claim.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Even now, I remain mystified by Halligan&rsquo;s texts to me,&rdquo; Bower wrote. &ldquo;She is currently the most scrutinized prosecutor in the country, widely seen as hand-picked to prosecute her boss&rsquo;s political enemies. Even the slightest misstep could be seized on and picked apart by defense counsel representing James, who analysts expect will seek dismissal of her charges based on selective or vindictive prosecution.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks during an event for New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, Monday, Oct. 13, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo\/Olga Fedorova)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>That description has fueled social media criticism of Halligan, but a review of the texts by the&nbsp;<em>Washington Examiner<\/em>&nbsp;and interviews with multiple former federal prosecutors indicate no clear violation of law or ethics.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-experts-much-ado-about-nothing\">Experts: &lsquo;Much ado about nothing&rsquo;<\/h2>\n<p>Former federal prosecutor David Gelman said the episode was &ldquo;a nothing burger&rdquo; that Democrats and left-leaning outlets were inflating for political effect.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Is it ethically wrong? No, not at all,&rdquo; Gelman told the&nbsp;<em>Washington Examiner<\/em>. &ldquo;Would I personally text a reporter over Signal? No, but that&rsquo;s just not my style. There&rsquo;s literally no ethical issue whatsoever. Halligan didn&rsquo;t reveal grand-jury material or prejudice the case. It&rsquo;s the Left trying to play it out as a Trump-appointed individual messing up, and it&rsquo;s far from it.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Gelman said Halligan&rsquo;s messages merely showed her &ldquo;telling a reporter to do better homework,&rdquo; adding that she was careful not to disclose protected evidence. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s much ado about nothing,&rdquo; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani echoed that view, saying the exchange revealed &ldquo;inexperience more than misconduct.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;There is no clear violation, but it shows Halligan&rsquo;s inexperience,&rdquo; Rahmani said. &ldquo;Prosecutors can&rsquo;t disclose grand-jury material, and it doesn&rsquo;t appear that Halligan did. Disappearing Signal messages aren&rsquo;t common, but we&rsquo;re seeing more government officials use them. So it&rsquo;s really just a U.S. attorney that has no prosecution experience and isn&rsquo;t used to dealing with the media, more than a legal or ethical violation.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-doj-defends-halligan\">DOJ defends Halligan<\/h2>\n<p>The DOJ later appeared to certify the authenticity of the texts in a statement from a spokesperson who spoke to&nbsp;<em>Lawfare<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>A department spokesperson defended the Trump-appointed prosecutor in a statement to the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>, saying, &ldquo;Lindsey Halligan is doing an outstanding job making Virginia safe again and won&rsquo;t be distracted by lazy reporting from a blogger uninterested in the facts.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-fallout-likely-limited\">Fallout likely limited<\/h2>\n<p>While the Justice Department&rsquo;s Office of Professional Responsibility could theoretically review the matter, experts say any sanction is unlikely. <\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3850002\/letitia-jamess-grandniece-willfully-avoiding-probation-living-in-virginia-home\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">LETITIA JAMES&rsquo;S GRANDNIECE &lsquo;WILLFULLY AVOIDING&rsquo; PROBATION LIVING IN VIRGINIA HOME<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>James&rsquo;s defense attorneys may cite the exchange to question Halligan&rsquo;s judgment, but experts say it offers no substantive basis to challenge the prosecution. They point to Halligan&rsquo;s unwillingness to divulge any specific information about grand jury testimony.<\/p>\n<p>James is expected to exhaust all of her legal options in an attempt to dismiss the case against her, in which she has vehemently denied wrongdoing. She will make her first appearance in federal court on Friday in Norfolk, Virginia, where she is expected to plead not guilty.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Leaked Signal texts from Letitia James prosecutor don&#8217;t breach ethics, experts say<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2633,"featured_media":2501524,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25232710877768.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[4381,4431,6215],"class_list":["post-2501523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-ethics","tag-legal","tag-prosecutor"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25232710877768.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2501523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2633"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2501523"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2501523\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2501527,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2501523\/revisions\/2501527"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2501524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2501523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2501523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2501523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}