When the FBI raided Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in 2022 to search for classified documents, Lindsey Halligan was sent out to defend him on news programmes across the country.

“They looked at God-knows-what in there, and did God-knows-what in there,” she remonstrated, laying out her argument in measured tones.

With her pageant queen looks and broadcast training, she fitted the “central casting” mould of many of the president’s closest confidantes.

Now, the former Florida insurance lawyer with no prosecutorial experience, has been sworn in as one of Mr Trump’s top US attorneys, tasked with bringing charges against several of his political enemies.

Announcing Ms Halligan’s nomination as the US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Mr Trump praised his former personal lawyer on Saturday as a “tough, smart, and loyal attorney” in a gushing tribute on Truth Social, later adding that she will provide “JUSTICE FOR ALL!”