FINALLY: Top Trump attorney now faces DISBARMENT

You're watching the Legal Breakdown. Glenn, I ask you all the time about. consequences for these US attorneys, there's these lawyers, prosecutors who. defy the law in deference to Trump, especially when it comes to their law. licenses. We finally have some news on. that front. Can you explain what just. happened? Brian, we talk about this all. the time. Well, I'm happy to report that. the state of Florida, the state bar is. investigating Lindsey Halligan for. alleged misconduct. Um,

you know, we do talk all the time about. how these DOJ lawyers, you know, these. Donald Trump flunkies, um, are evading. any kind of accountability, even when. they get caught doing things wrong. red-handed by federal judges who put on. the record that they are. misrepresenting, that they're not being. candid with the court, that they're. violating the rules. You know, Brian, we. talk all the time about how in theory. state bar counsel can open ethics. investigations and can end up.

sanctioning lawyers who engage in. misconduct up to and including. disbarring them from ever practicing law. again. And, you know, that kind of. accountability seems to move forward in. fits and starts. It took a couple of. years for both New York and DC to disbar. Rudy Giuliani, but today we got a. report, uh, I think first in the New. York Times, that the Florida state bar. has opened an investigation into Lindsey. Halligan. Our viewers will no doubt.

remember Lindsey Halligan was basically. the fake US attorney who had no lawful. authority to set foot in a grand jury, yet she walked into two grand juries in. Virginia and walked out of one with a. criminal indictment of former FBI. Director James Comey and walked out of. the other with an indictment of New York. State Attorney General Letitia James. Now, mind you, both of them have been, um, thrown out by federal judges because.

she didn't have lawful authority to do. it. But, importantly, in the James Comey. case, there was some litigation that. resulted in the grand jury minutes, that. is the audio recordings of everything. Lindsey Halligan did inside that secret. proceeding, that grand jury room. Those. grand jury minutes were turned over to, um, James Comey's defense attorney and. lo and behold, there was misconduct by. Lindsey Halligan. That's the allegation. In fact, I would I would suggest, Brian,

that this ethics investigation should be. fairly easy for the Florida state bar. because a a judge, among other things, said, "Lindsey Halligan made fundamental. mistakes of law in the grand jury that. could compromise the integrity of the. grand jury proceedings against James. Comey." Mind you, that is just one thing. that one federal judge has said about. Lindsey Halligan's conduct. So, uh, you. know, I'm happy to report that as of.

right now, there is an ethics. investigation being conducted by the. Florida state bar into Lindsey Halligan. Glenn, would you think it's fair to say. that the bigger hurdle to overcome here. was actually getting this ethics. investigation by the bar council started. as opposed to once it started, you know, them finding that she did indeed abuse. her law license or that it or that she. should be disbarred because, like you. said, I mean, the the facts, the evidence surrounding. this thing is pretty clear, but the.

likelihood of them actually starting it, that was, you know, that nobody really. has control over. That's up to them to. decide whether or not they want to. engage in this. You know, I think that's. a fair observation and even a fair. inference given that these things seem. to take so long to get going. But, the. way this one played out, there is a. non-profit organization called the. Campaign for Accountability and they. filed a complaint against Lindsey. Halligan. They got a reply back from the. Florida state bar that said, "We already.

have an ethics investigation open into. Lindsey Halligan." So, that kind of begs. the question, when did it start? How. long has it been going on? Who filed it? But, you know, so these things are not. at all transparent. These things are. always kept under wraps. Why? Well, because sometimes there are allegations. made against attorneys, um, that are not. sort of based in any facts. You know, we. often have people who are aggrieved at.

attorneys for any number of reasons and. they just go ahead and file all sorts of. baseless complaints. So, it's not a. surprise that these things are kept. under wraps, but it it does often seem. to to take too long when attorneys like. Lindsey Hallen Halligan can hop from one. grand jury to another engaging in. misconduct. It seems like that's the. kind of thing that a state bar, and. Lindsey Halligan holds her license to. practice law in the state of Florida, a. state bar would want to attack pretty. aggressively. So, Glenn, I want to ask.

you about the Florida of it all. But, before I do that, just a note for. everybody who's watching right now. If. you'd like to stay on top of legal news, Glenn and I do these videos every single. day. So, the best way to stay on top of. this stuff and support our work is to. subscribe to both of our channels. I'm. going to put those links in the post. description of this video. If you're not. yet subscribed, please head into the. post description, click on the, uh, links to our channels and hit the. subscribe button. 100% free for you to. do so, but again, a great way to support. our work. So, Glenn, as I was mentioning. before, it's difficult not to look at Florida.

and have a lot of thoughts about that. state. There's a lot of baggage that. comes with that state. It's the state of. Ron DeSantis. We have seen a lot of kind. of abusive behavior even by the. institutional elements in that state. Do. you think that the bar is kind of above. the fray when it comes to politics? And. even if it's, you know, the bar in. Florida versus the bar, you know, in. California or New York or wherever it. may be, that that that when they're. looking for abuses, the political. affiliation of the person who they're. investigating doesn't matter.

So, my answer is I would like to think. that the bar council in the 50 states. and in the District of Columbia are. largely above the political fray. I I. even happen to believe that that is. likely true. You know, the people who. gravitate toward wanting to conduct. oversight of attorney conduct and. attorney ethics and be part of the. investigation into allegations of. attorney misconduct are typically not.

political people. They're people who. really care deeply about the honest. practice of law and that's probably why. they gravitate toward those kind of. jobs. But, of course, you know, Florida. is Florida. It is a deeply red state and. when we have problematic people who. govern there like Ron DeSantis, and. let's remember Pam Bondi was the. attorney general, I believe, for two. terms in Florida, you know, that can. lead you to wonder aloud, well, just how.

saturated is the, um, the apparatus in. Florida with people who are driven by. politics and and less concerned about. the rule of law, our Constitution, the. ethics of the attorneys who are licensed. to practice there. But, I'm going to. stick with my best guess, which is that. the kind of people who gravitate toward. these positions, whether in red states. or blue states, you know, are generally. just concerned with guarding closely.

guarding the ethics of of the legal. profession. So, looking at somebody like. Lindsey Halligan, and I'm focused on her. because, well, that's what we're talking. about right now, but I also think that. what happens here will be instructive to. other people who come next. Or at least. they should be, right? I mean, Lindsey. Halligan should have learned from Jenna. Ellis and Rudy Giuliani and John. Eastman, but of course, they never do. because they just get drunk on proximity. to power. But, let's say that because. Lindsey Halligan is the most recent. example of a US attorney who was. perfectly content to abuse her position.

in blind deference to Trump, what are. her prospects if she's disbarred? What. kind of what kind of, you know, how does. that limit her ability to. work in this profession that she's. dedicated her life to? Because I think. like that will serve as a kind of a. blinking red light, a warning to any. other US attorneys who Donald Trump. inevitably asks to do his bidding, but. then they're watching what happens to. this US attorney who it would be sort of. a professional disqualifier.

first and foremost and most directly, you can't practice law anymore if you've. been disbarred. But, also, you know, people used to have some shame. There. used to be consequences for being caught. engaging in this kind of misconduct that. results in disbarment. >> quaint a quaint world where where. people, uh, where where shame was enough. of a driver to get people to not do. something. Yeah, I long for the day when. an attorney who was disbarred, you know, basically would be a professional. pariah. They wouldn't be able to get a.

job in in any, you know, respectable. administration. But, you know, maybe. being disbarred is kind of a perk on. one's resume when you're applying for. some political position in the Trump. administration. So, listen, uh, you. know, that that's kind of making light. of it, but if you are a disbarred. lawyer, that is going to haunt you for. the rest of your days, even if you can. plug into some, you know, Trump. administration position or agency. It's. just a it it's a real stain on one's.

career. Can you speak a little bit about. these past lawyers, attorneys, prosecutors who have, you know, basically sacrificed their livelihoods. in deference to Trump and where they are. now? You know, it's incredible because. Rudy Giuliani, of course, mayor of New. York, talk about an enormous fall from. grace when he ends up doing Donald. Trump's dirty bidding, trying to, you. know, help him steal an election he. lost, he gets disbarred in New York. He.

gets disbarred in the District of. Columbia. He gets successfully sued for. defamation for the two Georgia state. election workers, Shea Moss and Ruby. Freeman. And he, you know, basically has. to give over, in furtherance of a money. judgment that was entered against him, tons and tons and tons of his assets. I. can't imagine he has much left. But then. you look at the Kenneth Chesebros of. this sad affair. Another lawyer who. seemed to be well-regarded before he.

decided to plug in to Donald Trump's. corrupt scheme to try to win an. election. He's not only been disbarred, he is now a a convicted criminal because. he pleaded guilty to being part of the. corrupt scheme down in Georgia. You've. got John Eastman who was a a law. professor, for gosh sakes. Also kind of. the architect of the fake elector. scheme. Disbarred. I don't know if he's. found gainful employment anywhere. Um. and of course you've got Jeffrey Clark.

That was the dirty DOJ official who. wanted to take over the Department of. Justice and help from the inside, you. know, undermine the results of the 2020. election. Even, you know, trying to use. DOJ's letterhead to send a letter down. to Georgia and to other battleground. states saying, "Wait a minute. Wait a. minute. We think there's all kinds of. fraud undermining the election's. results." Even though there was no. evidence supporting that. Both, you. know, DOJ leadership and um also the the.

agencies and organizations that were. directly involved in protecting and. promoting election integrity said, "This. is the safest, most secure American. election in history." But all of these. attorneys, one after another after. another, end up, you know, being. disbarred and goodness knows what kind. of employment they can secure for. themselves. So the question becomes, don't today's lawyers who are plugging. in to Donald Trump's dirty deeds see. this as a cautionary tale? You know, I I.

know power must be a wonderful and. intoxicating thing for some, but do you. really want to sacrifice your entire. professional career because, you know, you may be flying high with your. proximity to power right now, but you. will fall. Not to mention, Donald Trump. will ultimately introduce all of these. people to the undercarriage of a bus as. he just did today with Kristi Noem. Right. And and to answer that question, no. These people won't recognize it.

because the reality is, the fact that. they're working for him right now, after. he's already thrown so many people under. the bus, after he's already abandoned. Michael Cohen and George Papadopoulos. and Gordon Sondland and. um Mike Pence and Marjorie Taylor. Greene, you know, his whole his whole. administration, his whole orbit is a a. graveyard of of former allies. And so if. those people didn't recognize it at at. the point that they came close to him, they're never going to recognize it or.

it's not going to matter because, like. you said, they're just drunk on. proximity to power and that's enough for. them. Uh but I guess the the one thing. that they should recognize is they. shouldn't be surprised if and when it. happens to them because uh if we've. learned anything, especially with the. Kristi Noem situation, it comes for. everybody at some point. Uh with that. said, again, for those who are watching. right now, if you'd like to stay on top. of all legal news, we're going to. continue doing these videos. So the best. way to follow our work is to subscribe. to both of our channels. I'm going to. put those links right here on the screen. and also in the post description of this. video. I'm Brian Tyler Cohen. And I'm.

Glenn Kirschner. You're watching the. Legal Breakdown. >> [music].