Trump’s lawyers are being disbarred, fined and joined as co-defendants with Trump in pending criminal cases. Some have been swept up as co-conspirators in the Georgia RICO case and some are likely unindicted co-conspirators in Jack Smith’s case before Judge Chutkan. When Jack Smith finally gets to try that case, which will happen only if and when Trump loses the 2024 election, he will undoubtably amend his complaint and add some of these attorneys as co-conspirators. Many of them helped Trump carry out his plot to stay in power after losing a fair election to Joe Biden. Trump’s lawyers are paying the price for helping him to cheat and lie. It might be ok to lie when it comes to sales and politics, but it can get you disbarred when you lie in a court of law or to the FBI.
Here is a run down of lawyers who are paying the price for helping Trump lie:
John Eastman: Eastman had 11 charges filed against him by counsel for the California State Bar stemming from his efforts to challenge the election results with Trump, with a judge recommending Wednesday that he be disbarred and sanctioned $10,000 for his post-election efforts—which comes after Eastman was already among the Trump allies who have been criminally charged in Georgia for helping Trump try to overturn the election.
Jenna Ellis: The Colorado Supreme Court publicly censured Ellis for violating rules that attorneys must not “knowingly [engage] in any [noncriminal] conduct that involves dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation,” with the attorney admitting in court she had made “misrepresentations” while representing Trump after the election that were “reckless” and had a “selfish motive.” After Ellis was criminally charged in Georgia (and got a plea deal in the case), the Colorado State Bar said in January it was investigating her again.
Sidney Powell: A judge dismissed an attempt by the Texas State Bar to discipline Powell in February after the bar alleged Powell’s post-election efforts had violated rules for professional conduct, though she now faces a separate disciplinary investigation in Michigan after being sanctioned for her post-election lawsuit in that state. After advising Trump and bringing her own post-election lawsuits in four states, Powell also still faces defamation lawsuits from Dominion and Smartmatic, a reported federal investigation into her organization’s fundraising arm and was criminally charged in Georgia, though she later reached a plea deal.
Rudy Giuliani: Giuliani, who led Trump’s post-election efforts, has already had his law license suspended and proceedings are under way to determine if he should be fully disbarred; he’s also been sued for defamation by voting machine companies Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic and was criminally charged in Georgia. The attorney was also ordered to pay $148 million to Georgia election workers whom he defamed, which resulted in Giuliani declaring bankruptcy.
Jeffrey Clark: Former DOJ attorney Clark, who aided Trump’s post-election efforts from within the agency, faces charges from the D.C. Bar, which filed a complaint against him in July 2022 and kicked off legal proceedings that are now being heard in court this week. He was also criminally charged in Georgia.
Kenneth Chesebro: The attorney, who is described as the architect of the Trump campaign’s “fake electors” scheme—in which GOP officials in battleground states submitted false slates of electors to Congress claiming Trump won—was criminally charged in Georgia, though he took a plea deal right before his case went to trial.
Michael Cohen: Trump’s longtime attorney served a three-year sentence in prison and home confinement for tax evasion and campaign finance-related crimes, after he orchestrated a series of “hush money” payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal over allegations they had affairs with Trump.
Alina Habba: Habba, who’s representing Trump in many of his post-presidency legal battles, has been sanctioned multiple times in Trump’s failed lawsuit against Hillary Clinton; she was first ordered to pay with her co-counsel $50,000 in sanctions and $16,274 in attorneys’ fees to one defendant in the case, and she and Trump were then sanctioned in January for nearly $1 million payable to Clinton, her campaign and other Democratic operatives.
Cleta Mitchell: Mitchell, who participated in Trump’s phone call in which he urged Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to overturn the state’s election results, resigned from her law firm Foley & Lardner in January 2021, saying she left the firm due to a “massive pressure campaign” against her from the left to oust her over her associations with Trump.
Other Georgia Attorneys: Attorneys Ray Smith and Robert Cheeley were also indicted as part of the Georgia case against Trump and his allies, after Smith worked on behalf of the Trump campaign in Georgia and Cheeley pushed false claims of election fraud at a legislative hearing in the state.
Pending Complaints: Ethics complaints urging state bars and disciplinary boards to investigate attorneys have been filed and remain pending against multiple Trump lawyers who aided his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, including Mitchell and Boris Epshteyn, though court records show another complaint against Trump attorneys in New Mexico was dismissed.
Attorneys’ Fees: Trump and his campaign have been ordered to pay attorneys’ fees in a number of failed lawsuits—though it’s unclear if his attorneys have been forced to personally shoulder any part of those costs—including more than $20,000 to two Georgia counties over post-election litigation, $1.3 million to former White House advisor Omarosa Manigault and more than $54,000 to Daniels. (Forbes)
All of these attorneys face disbarment, fines and other serious, sometimes financially crippling consequences for helping Trump to make false claims, cheat to stay in power and lie about the outcome of the election. In every case they got themselves in hot water by listening to Trump and helping him. All of them were trying to sustain the alternate universe that Trump needs if he hopes to regain power as president. IF Trump were to regain the presidency he would do what other dictators do- restrict authentic, real, factual information and pump self-serving propaganda into the ecosystem. Trump is trying to do this even now without the power of the presidency behind him. He is effectively warping reality for a lot of people with the help of social media and conservative media like Fox, OAN, Newsmax and Russian efforts to shape the thinking of Americans. An information war is going on in our social media spaces and most Americans don’t even realize they are being targeted.
Misinformation is eroding the public’s confidence in democracy
When it comes to lawyers in court settings, knowingly asserting lies is impermissible. The courts do not accept “alternate reality”. Courts only accept the truth, facts, and real reality. Lawyers who knowingly provide false information in the courtroom put themselves and their law licenses at risk. Unlike what Trump and his cohort might want you to think, it is not only possible but required in a court of law to present factually supported testimony. The truth IS KNOWABLE. That’s why so many Trump lawyers are getting disbarred. They knew better and they still helped Trump assert his lies.
As Jennifer Rubin writes:
Rudy Giuliani’s law license is suspended in New York, and he has been recommended for disbarment by the D.C. Bar Association. Sidney Powell was sanctioned by a federal judge in Michigan. Jenna Ellis was censured in Colorado and, after pleading guilty in Georgia to election-related charges, faces possible disbarment. Former Justice Department lawyer Jeffrey Clark testified last week in a D.C. Bar investigation that could result in the loss of his law license.
When a disbarment hearing takes place there is testimonial evidence taken on the record. Witnesses are sworn to tell the truth under penalty of perjury.
The finding in John Eastman’s disbarment foretells Trump’s future but only if he is not re-elected. Here is that finding:
The evidence clearly and convincingly proves that Eastman and President Trump entered into an agreement to obstruct the Joint Session of Congress by unlawfully having Vice President Pence reject or delay the counting of electoral votes on January 6, 2021. … Upon consideration of the totality of the facts, the court finds weighty circumstantial evidence demonstrating a collaborative effort between Eastman and President Trump to impede the counting of elector votes on January 6, 2021, as articulated in Eastman’s memos.
This finding is not a conclusive determination of Trump’s criminality as a co-conspirator in a plot to overturn our democracy, but it is one of 3 similar findings that were reached after extensive testimony in hearings about the insurrection. These findings point to a high probability that Trump will eventually be found guilty if and when he is ever criminally tried for his attempt to stay in power after losing the 2020 election. Meanwhile, Trump’s lawyers are paying the price for assisting in Trump’s assault on our democracy. And here is the scary part for the rest of us- if Trump wins back the power of the presidency, we will all be forced to live in Trump’s alternate reality where he is always right and anyone who says otherwise risks his wrath and retribution.