Trump’s attorney gets the legal news he DREADED

You're watching the Legal Breakdown. Glenn, we have a big update as far as. one of Donald Trump's top henchmen are. concerned, where his law license may now. be at risk. Can you explain what just. happened? Yeah, Brian. Ed Martin, our. viewers will probably remember that. name. This is the guy that Donald Trump. tried to make the top prosecutor in. Washington, D.C., the United States. Attorney for the District of Columbia. And Ed Martin proved to be a bridge too. far for the Republican-controlled. Senate, and they refused to confirm him. So, then they shifted Ed Martin over to.

the Department of Justice, put him in. charge of the weaponization group, but. he wasn't long for that position, either. He got himself into some hot. water. He was removed from that. position, not to mention, he was removed. from the Department of Justice, and he's. in some satellite office building. halfway across town now. However, he is. still the pardon attorney for the United. States of America, because, of course, he is. Well, when he was acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia,

what did he do? He threatened Georgetown University. School of Law by saying, "I understand. that your school is teaching and. promoting DEI. This is unacceptable, and. you must stop." And when they opted not. to stop, because they have First. Amendment rights, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of. religion, it is a Catholic and Jesuit. private institution, um he punished them.

by prohibiting any Georgetown University. law students or anybody affiliated with. Georgetown from working at the D.C. U.S. Attorney's Office. Brian, I would say. this is like legal bizarro world, but. what it really is is Trump world. They. don't believe that the laws or the. Constitution apply to them or constrain. their conduct. Not to mention, before I. get to the good part, um. prosecutors have absolutely no right or.

jurisdiction or authority to run around. and tell colleges and universities what. they can and can't teach and what they. can and can't promote. That is not the. job of a prosecutor. We are there to. investigate and prosecute crime. And. policies that law schools and. universities may have with respect to. things like diversity, equity, and. inclusion has nothing to do with the. criminal law. So, all of that being. said, the DC Bar Council is doing its.

job. Ed Martin holds a license to. practice law from the DC Bar. That's. where he's barred as an attorney. I. should add, before you can work as a. federal attorney at the Department of. Justice, you have to hold a state law. license from one of the 50 states or the. District of Columbia, and his is in the. District of Columbia. Well, they brought. There were ethical allegations filed. against him, including by a retired. judge, saying.

this is all unethical and frankly. unconstitutional conduct what Ed Martin. did, and the Bar Council agreed. They. opened an investigation, and let me tell. you just a little bit of what that. allegation alleges. Think of these as. the charges against him. Martin knew or. should have known that as a government. official, his conduct of trying to. threaten and coerce Georgetown Law into. abandoning DEI teaching and and.

programs, his conduct violated the First and Fifth. Amendments to the Constitution of the. United States in that he demanded that. Georgetown Law change what it teaches. students and how it teaches them. He. stated that a particular viewpoint, DEI, which Ed Martin didn't even have the the. courtesy to define, never mind explain. He just used those three initials. He. didn't say what it was. He didn't say. why a prosecutor had any business, you.

know, intervening at all in a. university's DEI programs. And, you. know, it it it was so laughable when you. read this threatening letter that he. sent to Georgetown. Um. an undefined DEI is unacceptable and and. threatened to and did take adverse. action against Georgetown law to. penalize it for teaching and promoting. that viewpoint. And Martin used coercion. to punish or suppress a disfavored.

viewpoint, disfavored by Ed Martin, the. teaching and promotion of DEI. Think of. those as the charges that have been. leveled and are being investigated and. pursued by DC Bar Counsel. But, Brian, believe it or not, it gets worse. Once. these charges landed on Ed Martin's lap, he started to unethically have what we. call ex parte contact, one-sided. contact. With who? Judges on the District of Columbia Court.

of Appeals who would be the ultimate. decider as to whether the charges have. been proven and whether he should be. sanctioned up to and including being. disbarred. He started reaching out to. the judges, writing them, contacting. them, saying things like, "You know, the. Bar Counsel who's pursuing this, a. gentleman named Hamilton Fox, he's been. in that position a very long time, highly regarded. I want Fox investigated. and I want Fox punished and I And he's. actually talking to the judges who will.

ultimately sit and make a decision in. his ethics allegation case. I mean, again, this is so beyond the pale. So, what did the DC Bar Counsel do? They added charges for additional. ethical misconduct for having ex parte. one-sided communications with judges who. in the future will be deciding your. case. So, what are the next steps here now. that this investigation is formally.

launched in the DC Bar Council? Think trial of sorts. They will. adjudicate the these ethics charges. against Ed Martin. And I have to tell. you, Brian, this old prosecutor sees. these charges as kind of shooting fish. in a barrel. I mean, it's so beyond the. pale and I will never get over that the. top prosecutor in Washington, D.C. decided to completely abandon hit the. scope of his authority, which is to. investigate and prosecute crime and is.

threatening a law school, a prominent, highly regarded law school in. Washington, D.C. to change what it. teaches and what it endorses and what. its policies are. It's so beyond the. pale that, you know, it it it will be. easy to conclude after this adjudication. occurs that, yes, he violated the. Constitution, the First Amendment, the. Fifth Amendment. And I have to say, the. the second charge of having unethical.

contact with judges, he's got emails that he sent to the. judges saying, "I want you to fire. basically the guy who's prosecuting me. as part of this Bar Council. adjudication." It's just so beyond the. pale, so transparently. unethical and unconstitutional. that, you know, I have a feeling. adjudicating these ethics charges are. going to be pretty easy. Now, I want to know what the actual. consequences, the practical implications. are going to be for somebody like Ed.

Martin. But first, before you dive into. that question, just a quick note for. anybody who's watching. If you'd like to. support our work and hear more about. breaking legal news, the best way to do. that is to subscribe to both of our our. I'm going to put those links in the post. description of this video. If you're not. yet subscribed, it's 100% free to do so, but a great way to support us and. independent media. So, please go ahead. and hit the subscribe buttons. So, Glenn, even in the scenario where Ed. Martin loses his law license because the. DC Bar Council, you know, follows their. mandate and and and sees the abuse. that's that's taking place at the hands.

of of Ed Martin at this administration. and and. and disbars him, what does that mean for. somebody in the Trump administration. both now and in the future? Couple of. things. First, I think he should and I. think the DOJ regulations, I would want. to check this, would basically require. that he be removed as the pardon. attorney, but I would have to do a deep. dive into DOJ procedures. Practically. speaking, he can't serve as the nation's.

top pardon attorney if he's not the. attorney part, if he's been disbarred. So, he should lose any position that, you know, he still. at the Department of Justice. However, just as we saw with Kristi Noem, who was. fired as the director of DHS and and. ended up in some fictitious position. that Donald Trump just, you know, put a. name to, um I have a feeling the Trump. administration will absorb Ed Martin. somewhere in that administration to do.

Lord knows what, you know, continue to. act improperly, unlawfully, and. unconstitutionally. as he has done over and over again. Um. it does mean that he will never be able. to practice law in any jurisdiction in. the United States federal or any of the. state courts. So, you know, there is. some penalty attached to that, but. because we are in a post-shame. universe in the Trump administration, for all I know, that will be the first.

thing he puts on a resume depending on, you know, who he is seeking employment. with. I was disbarred fighting for dear. leader. That might be a selling point. for Ed Martin. And and that's the part I want to dig. into here because. I'm wondering if it's enough of a. deterrent for any of these people who. look, they it's not like they're there. because they were qualified in the first. place. It's not like they they were. there because of their sterling. qualifications because Pete Hegseth.

knows how to operate the Pentagon or or. Sean Duffy has some is is you know, has. has some wealth of knowledge when it. comes to transportation. They're there. all solely because in this MAGA. ecosystem, if you can show blind, you. know, slavish devotion to to the guy at. the top, then then then you know, you've. got your job. And in fact uh they're. mutually exclusive competence and and. and sycophancy because the more. competent you are, the less likely. you're going to be to blindly just. adhere to whatever Trump tells you to.

do. And so I'm wondering in this MAGA. universe, if you even think it's it's. it's enough of a deterrent to take the. law license away of somebody. who is not there because he's proficient. in law, but rather because he's willing. to just follow blindly the edicts that. Trump that Trump puts forward. You know, Brian, I wouldn't say it's enough of a. penalty or a sanction or a consequence. to lose your law license, but two. things. First of all, it's still pretty. darn serious. You know, we are a tribe.

of lawyers for better or worse. We come. in all, you know, flavors and sizes and. ideologies. Um but you know, you get your. undergraduate degree for 4 years. You. then go to law school for 3 years. You. then study for the bar. You take the. bar. You pass the bar. You get sworn in. You know, in theory, you begin to get. trained up as a lawyer. There is a lot. of time, effort, energy, money that goes. into getting that law license. And I. think I can speak for most attorneys, we.

kind of covet it. We hold fast to it. Sometimes we're even proud of it. depending on the work we're doing. So, it really is a hit when somebody gets. disbarred. That's in theory, you know, at least 3 years of law school and a bar. exam that is thrown out the window and. you can never take advantage of it. You. can never use it to earn a living in the. future. But, here is the second thing. and this is probably potentially the. larger hit that Ed Martin will take if. he's disbarred.

The rule of law is going to come back. into the light of day. Right? Right now, it's on life support, you know, and. Donald Trump is is continuing in his. efforts to completely undermine if not. outright kill the rule of law. altogether. But, Donald Trump and his. ilk will not be in power forever. And. accountability has to come for Trump and. company for the crimes they're. committing day in and day out in.

violation of our federal laws against. the American people. So, when they fall. from power and they will, um, Ed Martin is going to be out on his. ass because he's not going to have a. federal administration to plug into. You. know, maybe he can go be a a little. right-wing podcaster together with the. Bun Ginos and the Patels, which is what. he was doing before and probably what. he'll be doing after the Trump. administration falls from power. But, you know what? He won't be in the.

administration and he won't be uh, working as a lawyer. Yeah, perfectly. put. For those again who are watching. right now, if you'd like to support our. work, if you'd like to stay on top of. breaking legal news, if you'd like to. support independent media, the best way. to do that, 100% free, is to subscribe. to both of our channels. So, I'm going. to put those links right here on the. screen and also in the post description. of this video. If you're not yet. subscribed, please make sure to go ahead. and hit the subscribe button. I'm Brian. Tyler Cohen. And I'm Glenn Kirschner. You're watching the Legal Breakdown. >> [music].