Lindsey Harrigan outside the White House, August 20, 2025, Washington.
Jacqueline Martin | AP
President Donald Trump is pushing to confirm Lindsay Harrigan as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, weeks after the criminal case against rivals James Comey and Letitia James was dismissed because of Harrigan’s involvement in the prosecution.
But her nomination faces a potentially fatal hurdle from the so-called blue-slip tradition, which Republican senators have refused to abandon despite President Trump’s demands.
Harrigan submitted a 28-page questionnaire on Wednesday to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is responsible for vetting U.S. attorney candidates. This was the first action regarding her nomination since President Trump formally sent notice of her nomination to the Senate on September 30th.
The questionnaire was sent more than two weeks after a federal judge disqualified her from serving as interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District due to the nature of her appointment.
White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt told CNBC: “She is the president’s nominee. We want her to be confirmed, and submitting the questionnaire is part of that process.”
MS NOW first reported that Mr Harrigan had submitted the questionnaire.
A spokesperson for the Republican-controlled Judiciary Committee told CNBC in a statement that “the committee has not received any blue papers” from Virginia Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, both Democrats.
For more than a century, blue slips (literally, forms printed on blue paper) have given senators an important say in each state’s judicial nominees and U.S. attorney nominees.
“Nominees without blue votes will not be given a vote to advance out of committee or be confirmed on the Senate floor,” a Justice Department spokesperson said.
Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) called the practice “a fundamental example of a system of checks and balances” that “prevents one party from blocking candidates who are inconsistent with the values of the communities they serve.”
A Justice Department spokeswoman said Grassley “wants President Trump’s nominees to be successful.”
When President Trump nominated Harrigan to lead the U.S. Attorney’s Office, he had no experience as a prosecutor.
Instead, her legal career focused primarily on insurance cases.
She previously worked as Mr. Trump’s lawyer in a federal criminal case in Florida in which he was accused of illegally retaining classified documents and in his defamation lawsuit against CNN.
President Trump has repeatedly urged Republicans to abandon the blue-filing rule, arguing that it hurts his ability to confirm nominees for key roles.
The president complained Thursday morning that the practice “makes it impossible for states with at least one Democratic senator to confirm good Republican judges and federal prosecutors.”
“If they say no, it’s over for that very qualified Republican candidate,” President Trump wrote on Truth Social.
His post accused Mr. Grassley by name of allowing the “fraud” to continue.
President Trump also called on Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R.S.D., to “get something done and ideally end the blue slips.”
Alina Haba, another former Trump attorney chosen by Trump to lead the New Jersey U.S. attorney’s office, resigned from the job earlier this week, blaming a “flawed blue return tradition” as part of her decision.
Mr Haba had similarly been disqualified as interim director by a judge due to the nature of his appointment.
Attorney General Pam Bondi appointed Harrigan as interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia on September 20, one day after former interim top prosecutor Eric Siebert resigned under pressure from President Trump.
A few days later, Mr. Harrigan presented evidence to a federal grand jury, which indicted Mr. Comey on charges of making false statements to Congress and obstructing Congress.
In mid-October, Mr. Harrigan obtained a separate grand jury indictment against New York State Attorney General James for allegedly making false claims on mortgage records.
Mr. Comey and Mr. James have denied wrongdoing.
On November 24, Senior District Judge Cameron Curry dismissed both criminal cases, stating that Harrigan’s appointment was “flawed” and that any actions associated with her appointment “must be set aside.”
Mr. Curry ruled that Mr. Halligan’s installation violated the statutory mechanism for appointing temporary U.S. attorneys.
