Topline
A lawyer representing former Trump attorney Sidney Powell in a pair of defamation cases is facing disciplinary charges in Washington D.C. over a legally dubious lawsuit seeking to overturn the results of former President Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 election, making him the latest lawyer to face disciplinary actions over alleged election interference bids.
A lawyer representing former Trump attorney Sidney Powell is facing disciplinary action over his ... [+]
Key Facts
The disciplinary charges—filed earlier this month in Washington D.C. but released this week—state that attorney Lawrence Joseph violated “the standards governing the practice of law” in D.C., over a complaint filed in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election seeking to overturn the results of Trump’s loss.
In that lawsuit—which was filed against then-Vice President Mike Pence and has since been thrown out—plaintiffs argued Pence had the “exclusive authority and sole discretion” to decide which electoral votes should count toward the election results, part of a brazen fake electors scheme in which GOP electors in six swing states were called on to cast new ballots for Trump ahead of a congressional certification process on Jan. 6, 2021.
D.C. investigators with the Office of Disciplinary Counsel allege that Joseph’s claim “had no factual basis and was false,” and that Joseph’s conduct violated rules of professional conduct and “constituted conduct unbecoming of an attorney.”
Joseph—who represents Powell in two separate defamation cases from voting machine companies Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic over Powell’s debunked claims the election was stolen from Trump—did not immediately respond to Forbes’ request for comment.
What To Watch For
The charges against Joseph will be heard by a D.C. Bar committee, which will decide if he is culpable of the charges, as well as potential sanctions that could include suspension, reprimand or disbarment, Politico reported.
Tangent
In a separate filing, investigators allege two other attorneys—Julia Haller and Brandon Johnson—also “violated the standards governing the practice of law” after filing federal lawsuits in the wake of the 2020 election in four states won by President Joe Biden (Arizona, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin). Plaintiffs in those cases attempted to overturn the results of the election in those states, claiming the election was fraught with “fraud on a vast scale as a result of a conspiracy to falsely inflate or increase” Biden’s vote count. Haller and Johnson did not respond to a Forbes inquiry.
Key Background
Haller, Joseph and Johnson are the latest in a string of lawyers tied to Trump’s alleged bid to overturn the results of his 2020 election loss to face disciplinary action. Jenna Ellis, a former Trump attorney, was censured last March by authorities in Colorado after she admitted to making false statements over election fraud in 2020, and could face disbarment after pleading guilty to a charge of aiding and abetting false statements in a Fulton County, Georgia, election interference case. Former Trump attorney John Eastman, who was indicted on nine charges in the Georgia case, was also found culpable in November for violating professional ethics standards in aiding Trump’s alleged bid to thwart the election results. In 2021, former Trump lawyer and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani had his law license suspended in New York for “demonstrably false and misleading statements” he made while defending Trump in his alleged attempt to overturn the election. Trump has also been indicted in Georgia over alleged election interference, as well as by Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith on four counts of conspiracy and obstruction of an official proceeding. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Further Reading
Trump Says Presidents Should Be Allowed To ‘Cross The Line’ Without Being Prosecuted (Forbes)
Trump’s Election Interference Trial Should Be ‘Speedy,’ AG Merrick Garland Says (Forbes)
