4:41FILE – Lindsey Halligan, in front of the White House, Aug. 20, 2025, in Washington. Jacquelyn Martin/AP
Lindsey Halligan, the United States Attorney representing the Eastern District of Virginia, has dismissed two leading attorneys within the department who objected to an endeavor to level accusations against New York Attorney General Letitia James, sources with knowledge of the situation verified to ABC News.
Elizabeth Yusi, the chief criminal litigator for the Norfolk bureau, along with her second-in-command Kristin Bird, were notified of their dismissals on Friday — signifying the most recent terminations within one of the most crucial federal prosecution offices nationwide, which oversees delicate homeland security and terrorism matters.
Individuals briefed on the situation reported that their departures were linked to their opposition in bringing charges against James.
Activists protest outside the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia’s Bryan Courthouse during the arraignment of former FBI Director James Comey on October 08, 2025 in Alexandria, Virginia. Comey pleaded not guilty during his arraignment today after being indicted by a Virginia grand jury on charges of making a false statement and obstruction during congressional testimony in 2020.Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Halligan was assigned to the Virginia department last month as a replacement for an official who had spurned mandates to prosecute President Donald Trump's supposed adversaries, encompassing James and one-time FBI Director James Comey.
ABC News had previously been the pioneer in reporting that investigators with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia established that there wasn’t substantiation to uphold a probable cause threshold to indict James on allegations of fraud deriving from a referral from the Federal Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte.
Halligan, lacking endorsement from any veteran prosecutors in the division she is currently heading, advanced in pursuing an indictment against James.
On Oct. 9, a grand jury charged James with a pair of counts of bank fraud coupled with making false declarations to a lending institution.
FILE – Lindsey Halligan, outside of the White House, Aug. 20, 2025, in Washington.Jacquelyn Martin/AP
James, who has refuted any impropriety and has portrayed her legal pursuit as an initiative to weaponize the Justice Department against Trump's political combatants, is scheduled to make a court appearance next Friday for her arraignment.
The dismissals of Yusi and Bird are apt to incite additional discord within a department that has previously witnessed the departures of numerous senior officials, who have informed colleagues that they surmise their removals were motivated entirely by politics.
Earlier this month, two more officials — including the office's head national security prosecutor, Michael Ben'Ary — were terminated.
Sourse: abcnews.go.com
