Trump DOJ Attorney Texts Reporter About NY AG Federal Case, Ghosts Request for Clarity

One of President Donald Trump's hand-picked U.S. Attorneys -- who is currently prosecuting New York Attorney General Letitia James -- reportedly texted with a journalist to complain about her coverage of the high-profile case ... and then tried to walk back the remarks.

According to a new report ... Lawfare's Anna Bower put on blast Lindsey Halligan -- the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Trump's former personal attorney -- after Halligan allegedly texted her on the Signal app October 11, slamming her reporting on the case against James.

As everyone knows, there's no love lost between Trump and James ... they both despise each other. You may recall ... in 2022, James sued Trump, claiming he overstated the value of his business assets to get favorable loans. She won the $450 million suit, but an appeals court later threw out the financial penalty.

Now, Trump is going after James -- the U.S. Department of Justice charged James with bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution, in regards to a second home she purchased in Virginia. James' primary home is in Brooklyn, New York ... and prosecutors allege James is using the Virginia home as an investment property ... instead of a residence for herself.

The New York Times then published an article saying the charges against James are weak ... and Bower commented on the NYT story on X, backing up the claims with notes from within the article. Bower's tweet apparently triggered Halligan, who texted Bower on the Signal app -- an encrypted-message platform widely used by journalists and others for confidentiality -- criticizing her for allegedly conveying false information ... without explicitly stating what was inaccurate, despite repeated asks by Bower for clarification.

The two reportedly traded messages over Signal ... Halligan later told Bower their conversation was off the record -- Bower explained she would have kept the conversation off the record if they'd agreed when the conversation began ... a standard journalistic convention. Halligan disagreed, and subsequently ghosted Bower after the journo asked for further comment from the Department of Justice for a story she was writing based on the text exchanges.

One big question is .... did Hannigan violate the law? Generally, Rule 6(e) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure prohibits prosecutors from discussing matters that took place before a grand jury. The Federal Records Act also requires federal agencies to maintain records of their activities ... which appears to be avoided through Haillgan's use of deleting messages on the Signal app.