Lindsey Halligan

Lindsey Halligan
Halligan attends the 2025 U.S. Open Men’s Championship
Education	Regis University University of Miami School of Law
Years active	2014–present
Political party	Republican

Lindsey Halligan is an American lawyer who is currently serving as a Special Assistant to the President in the second Trump administration. She previously practiced insurance law in Florida, before joining Donald Trump's legal team in 2022. ^[1] Trump has tasked her with removing "improper ideology" from the Smithsonian Institution. ^[2]

Education and early life

Halligan attended Holy Family High school, and after graduation attended Regis University in Denver and earned a degree in political science and broadcast journalism. ^[2] She competed in the Miss Colorado USA pageant twice in 2009 she was a semifinalist, and in 2010 she was third runner up. ^[2]

She attended Regis University, where she obtained her degree in politics. ^[3] She was admitted to the Florida Bar in 2014. ^[1]

Law career

Insurance law

Halligan was a partner at Cole, Scott and Kissane in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and handled residential and commercial insurance claims. ^{[3] [1] [4] [5] [6] [2]}

Halligan was second chair to another lawyer defending an insurance company at a two-day trial against three Miami homeowners who had suffered damaged roofs. A judge would not award her attorneys fees because he ruled that her team did not act "in good faith." ^[7]

Lawyer for Donald Trump

Classified cover sheets and documents found and photographed in the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago. White areas are redactions.

Halligan has represented former US president Donald Trump since 2022. By August 2022, she had never handled a federal case. ^{[6] [8]} She was at Mar-a-Lago during the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago in August 2022, quickly became involved in Trump's lawsuit in October 2022 against CNN for allegedly comparing Trump to Hitler, and has been involved in his defense against the federal government in the classified documents case. ^{[9] [7] [10] [11]}

Halligan is the local counsel for the case spawned by the FBI's execution of a search warrant at Trump's home at Mar-a-Lago, which Halligan said came as a "huge surprise," in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, and filed the Motions to Appear Pro Hac Vice for Evan Corcoran and James Trusty, initially on August 22, 2022. ^{[12] [8]} She was one of the few lawyers working for Trump who was on site during the FBI search. ^{[13] [14] [15]} She said Trump's subsequent indictment goes "for the jugular". ^{[16] [17]}

Trump's Save America PAC paid Halligan $212,000 from June 2022 to June 2023. ^[18]

In a March 2025 executive order, Trump tasked Halligan and Vice President J.D. Vance with removing "improper ideology" regarding portrayal of race in American history in the Smithsonian Institution. ^{[19] [2]} She currently serves as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Associate Staff Secretary in the Trump Administration. ^[19]

See also

• Legal affairs of the second Donald Trump presidency
• Alina Habba

References

1. Arnsdorf, Isaac; Dawsey, Josh; Leonnig, Carol D.; Alemany, Jacqueline; Helderman, Rosalind S. (August 16, 2022). "Trump is rushing to hire seasoned lawyers — but he keeps hearing 'No'". The Washington Post.
2. Judkis, Maura; Voght, Kara; Rodríguez, Jesús (April 21, 2025). "She told Trump the Smithsonian needs changing. He's ordered her to do it". The Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved April 22, 2025.
3. McCordick, Jack (June 21, 2023). "Donald Trump's Lawyers: A Guide to the Attorneys Who Signed Up to Defend the Ex-President (And Where They Are Now)". Vanity Fair.
4. Cuniff, Meghann (August 30, 2022). "Judge Gives Prosecutors Twice as Many Pages to Respond to Trump's Request for Special Master Following Mar-a-Lago Search". Law & Crime.
5. Sheth, Sonam; DeChalus, Camila (August 24, 2022). "Former prosecutors mock Trump's attorneys and say they may need to hire their own lawyers amid continued Mar-a-Lago fallout". Business Insider.
6. Derysh, Igor (August 17, 2022). ""Everyone's saying no": Trump hires Florida insurance lawyer as top attorneys refuse to work for him". Salon.
7. Pagliery, Jose (May 30, 2023). "Trump's Lawyers Start to Wonder if One Could Be a Snitch". The Daily Beast.
8. Rumpf, Sarah (August 24, 2022). "Trump's Lawyers Messed Up Their Motion to Represent Him in Florida So Badly the Court Sent Them Instructions". Mediaite.
9. Christopher, Tommy (August 11, 2022). "WATCH: Parade of Cable News Experts Insist FBI Mar-a-Lago Raid Was 'Not a Raid'". Mediaite.
10. "Trump's criminal defense attorney now representing him in federal probes". The Ponca City News. June 23, 2023.
11. Goudsward, Andrew; Lynch, Sarah N. (June 14, 2023). "Trump's defense team still taking shape as he appears in court". Reuters.
12. Farhi, Arden (August 10, 2022). "Trump lawyer who was at Mar-a-Lago for FBI search describes the scene". CBS News.
13. Swan, Betsy Woodruff; Wu, Nicholas; Cheney, Kyle (September 7, 2022). "All the former president's lawyers (that we know of); The various legal problems have created the need for a lot of legal help". POLITICO.
14. Graziosi, Graig (August 16, 2022). "Who are the new faces on Trump's legal team defending him over FBI raid; The various legal problems have created the need for a lot of legal help". The Independent.
15. Gans, Jared (August 10, 2022). "Trump lawyer says FBI teams focused on three areas at Mar-a-Lago". The Hill.
16. Palmer, Ewan (July 8, 2023). "Donald Trump's legal team: The lawyers fighting to keep him out of jail". Newsweek.
17. "Trump attorney Lindsey Halligan: Indictment goes 'for the jugular'". Fox News. June 13, 2023.
18. Cameron, Chris (August 16, 2023). "All the (Former) President's Lawyers; Donald Trump's PACs have spent millions of dollars on a small army of lawyers to defend him in four separate federal and state criminal cases". The New York Times.
19. "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History". The White House. March 27, 2025. Retrieved April 8, 2025.