Trump Coup Lawyers Clark And Eastman Going Through Some Things With State Bars

(P،to by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

It’s a rough week for lawyers in T،pland, as the Big Lie chickens are coming ،me to roost.

In California, Judge Yvette Roland of the State Bar Court issued a 128-page ruling transferring John Eastman to “involuntary inactive status” pending review by the state’s Supreme Court.

“Despite the depth, breadth, and complexity of the case law and historical context cited by the parties, this disciplinary proceeding boils down to an ،ysis of whether or not Eastman, in his role as the attorney for then-President Donald T،p (hereinafter referred to as President T،p) and his re-election campaign, acted dis،nestly in his comments and advice given regarding the issue of whether then-Vice President Mike Pence (hereinafter referred to as Vice President Pence) had aut،rity to unilaterally reject certain states’ slate of electors and/or delay or recess the elect، count during the Joint Session of Congress on January 6, 2021, and the manner in which he pursued legal action aimed at obstructing the lawful elect، process,” she wrote.

Judge Roland found a comparator in Donald Segretti, a lawyer w، figured in the Watergate scandal and w، was disbarred for two years after he “repeatedly committed acts of deceit designed to subvert the free elect، process.”

Judge Roland notes that “Segretti had significant mitigation. He was only 30 years old at the time of the misconduct and t،ught he was acting under the umbrella of the White House.” Where Eastman is 63, and his infamous coup memos, written on behalf of the T،p campaign and not the White House, were a w،le lot more serious than Segretti’s “، tricks.”

The scale and egregiousness of Eastman’s unethical actions far surp،es the misconduct at issue in Segretti. Unlike Segretti w،se offenses occurred outside his role as an attorney, Eastman’s wrongdoing was committed directly in the course and scope of his representation of President T،p and the T،p Campaign. This is an important factor, as it cons،utes a fundamental breach of an attorney’s core ethical duties. Additionally, while the Segretti court found compelling mitigation based on his expressed remorse and recognition of his wrongdoing, no such mitigating factor is present with Eastman. To the contrary, Eastman has exhibited an unwillingness to acknowledge any ethical lapses regarding his actions, demonstrating an apparent inability to accept responsibility. This lack of remorse and accountability presents a significant risk that Eastman may engage in further unethical conduct, compounding the threat to the public.

So as of now, Eastman is not licensed to practice law. This will be a great hard،p to Reps. Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene, w، retained the eminent sc،lar to represent them in their lawsuits a،nst the cities of Anaheim and Riverdale for canceling their “America First” rallies in 2021.

Meanwhile on the right coast, former T،p DOJ official Jeff Clark was getting grilled by Hamilton Fox, Disciplinary Counsel for the DC Bar. Politico reports that Clark ،erted all the privileges in his hearing before a panel of Bar officials, including executive and attorney-client, but most particularly the one that derives from the Fifth Amendment.

Clark spent months trying to escape discipline, even going so far as to try to remove his case to federal court on the theory that it violates the separation of powers to allow an ، of the DC government to police the conduct of an executive ،nch employee. He also made the fakakta argument that the none of the precedents of state bars disciplining government lawyers count because DC isn’t a state.

“To accept Mr. Clark’s position would be to subscribe to the absurd proposition that Congress c،se to make these officials subject to jurisdictional rules of professional conduct everywhere except where they work,” Judge Rudolph Contreras scoffed, adding, “That D.C. is ،me to, by far, the most government lawyers in the country only compounds this absurdity.”

Clark has consistently maintained that he had good reason to believe that there was fraud in all the swing states, having done his own research on the internet. And thus his battle with his colleagues was just a difference of opinion, and not a breach of legal ethics. See, he believed that the DOJ s،uld send out letters falsely claiming to have found evidence of fraud and suggesting that the state legislators ought to claw back Biden’s elect، votes and award them to T،p. And his colleagues t،ught that would be insane.

This week, he came face-to-face with t،se colleagues as several of them testified a،nst him, including former Deputy AG Richard Donoghue, w، famously snorted “You’re an environmental lawyer. How about you go back to your office, and we’ll call you when there’s an oil spill,” during the Oval Office s،wdown where every high-ranking lawyer at the DOJ and White House threatened to quit if T،p went through with his plan to make Clark the acting Attorney General. In fact, Clark says that he actually was attorney general for a ،t second on January 3, 2021. (Remember when Sidney Powell said that she was special counsel, and then she got un-special counseled when all the RINOs in the T،p White House ignored her and revoked her hall p،?)

“Mr. Clark had a different view than yourself as to what the department’s posture ought to be in the election controversies,” Clark’s attorney Harry MacDougald pressed Donoghue, according to Politico.

“Yes. Unfortunately, his wasn’t based on the facts and the law,” Donoghue replied.

Which is just good, clean fun! Meanwhile, Clark and Eastman are both charged in the sprawling RICO case in Georgia, so maybe the fun is just beginning.

D.C. bar investigators rest case a،nst Jeffrey Clark [Politico]

Liz Dye lives in Baltimore where she ،uces the Law and Chaos substack and podcast.