A Trump-appointed prosecutor tried to claim that a series of messages to a reporter criticizing her coverage had been “off the record.” But she was too late.

Lindsey Halligan, a former insurance lawyer who Trump appointed as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia in September, had reached out to Lawfare Senior Editor Anna Bower earlier this month, Bower revealed Monday.

The topic was Bower’s coverage—more specifically, her X posts about what The New York Times had already reported—about Halligan’s prosecution of Attorney General Letitia James, one of President Donald Trump’s perceived political enemies.

James is accused of misrepresenting the purpose of a second property she owns, this one in Virginia, by allegedly telling lenders it would be a “second home” but using

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