BS BULLETIN:
- A legal watchdog filed bar complaints Tuesday against Jeanine Pirro and two prosecutors over their effort to indict six Democratic lawmakers.
- A Washington grand jury refused to indict the group in February.
- Pirro’s office calls the complaints “frivolous” and says prosecutors were simply doing their jobs.
Remember the “Seditious Six”?
The six Democratic lawmakers who appeared together in that extraordinary video telling members of the U.S. military and intelligence community that they could refuse “illegal orders” from the Trump administration escaped indictment earlier this year.
Now the prosecutor who tried to indict them is the one facing a complaint.
The Legal Accountability Center filed bar complaints Tuesday against U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro and two of her prosecutors, Carlton Davis and Steven Vandervelden, accusing them of violating professional ethics by attempting to bring what the organization calls “meritless” criminal charges against the six Democrats.
Those Democrats were Sens. Mark Kelly of Arizona and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, along with Reps. Jason Crow of Colorado, Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania, Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania and Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire. All six had military or intelligence backgrounds when they released their video last November.
“This administration is pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens,” the lawmakers said in the video. “Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders.” What they conspicuously did not identify was which specific illegal orders Trump had supposedly issued.
President Trump erupted, calling their conduct “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR” and at one point writing that it was “punishable by DEATH!” The Justice Department subsequently investigated, and Pirro’s office sought criminal indictments. But in February, a Washington grand jury refused to indict the six — an unusually rare rejection of a prosecutor’s request.
Daily BS covered that development at the time, including the remarkable spectacle of lawmakers who had encouraged military personnel to resist unspecified “illegal orders” emerging from the grand-jury decision promising to fight back against the administration.
Now that fight has reached Pirro personally. The Legal Accountability Center argues that Pirro and her prosecutors should have known there was no probable cause to charge the lawmakers and accuses them of using prosecutorial power against Trump’s “perceived political enemies.”
“The only purpose could have been political animus and a desire to intimidate perceived enemies of the federal government and the President,” the complaint against Pirro says.
The organization is asking disciplinary authorities to investigate Pirro and the two prosecutors and “pursue appropriate discipline” if violations are found. The complaints against Pirro and Vandervelden were filed with a New York grievance committee, while the complaint against Davis went to the Virginia State Bar.
Pirro’s office isn’t exactly trembling. Spokesman Tim Lauer fired back that prosecutors don’t decide whether someone gets indicted — grand juries do. “Attempting to weaponize the disciplinary process against prosecutors for doing their jobs amounts to nothing more than a frivolous complaint,” Lauer said.
The watchdog argues Pirro weaponized prosecution against political opponents. Pirro’s office argues the watchdog is now weaponizing the disciplinary system against prosecutors.
Meanwhile, the six lawmakers whose video started this entire circus remain unindicted.
There is also another battle still underway. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attempted to punish Kelly, a retired Navy captain and former combat pilot, over his participation in the video. Kelly sued, a federal district judge sided with him, and Hegseth has appealed.
So nearly a year after six elected members of Congress looked directly into a camera and encouraged American military personnel to refuse “illegal orders” without identifying the supposed orders they were talking about, the legal fallout continues.
Only now the question isn’t whether the six Democrats committed a crime. It’s whether Jeanine Pirro committed an ethical violation by trying to prove that they did.
DBS WIRE SOURCES:
- The Hill — Pirro hit with bar complaint over bid to indict Democrats in illegal orders video
- Associated Press — Watchdog files bar complaint against Jeanine Pirro over bid to indict 6 Democratic lawmakers
- The Daily BS — ‘Seditious Six’ dodged indictment, now vow retaliation on Trump administration
