berg80
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- Oct 28, 2017
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101 Former Judges Ask the New York Bar to Investigate Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
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Today, 101 former judges filed a complaint, asking the New York State Bar Attorney Grievance Commission to “initiate an investigation into Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche (Registration No. 4192456) for violation of the New York Rules of Professional Conduct.” The judges are joined by Democracy Defenders Fund and Lawyers Defending American Democracy.
There are three grounds for the request:
- The role Blanche played in the settlement of Trump v. I.R.S., which the referral calls “fundamentally incompatible with his ethical obligations under the New York Rules of Professional Responsibility.” They cite multiple ethics rules that prohibit lawyers from engaging in “Conduct that tends to reflect adversely on the legal profession as a whole and to undermine public confidence in it warrants disciplinary action,” before concluding, “Never could that be clearer than here.”
- Blanche’s abuse of his authority at DOJ against personal and political enemies of his former client, Donald Trump. The complaint points out that this violates ethics rules against bringing frivolous cases, defined as “the lawyer knowingly advances a claim or defense that is unwarranted under existing law.” It also refers to a rule that prohibits lawyers from “engage[ing] in conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of justice” and in harassing conduct.
- Blanche’s “personal involvement in overseeing the Department of Justice’s botched and incomplete release of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell under the Epstein Files Transparency Act (EFTA).” The complaint references “serious concerns” about Blanche’s interview of Ghislaine Maxwell. The complaint argues he failed to meet “expectations of competent and diligent representation of the United States,” that his work “was burdened by his own conflicts of interest,” and that overall, the circumstances “reflected adversely on his fitness as an attorney.” The complaint concludes that “The American public deserves an Attorney General who serves the interests of the Nation, and not those of a single man.”
There really isn't much if any room for debate over whether Todd is deserving of impeachment and removal from office. Nor is there any legitimate defense of him being recognized as the most corrupted AG in the country's history. Whatever the designed independence that existed in the past separating the running of the DoJ from the prez is now gone.
We will never know about the extent of the criminal behavior a normal DoJ would have prosecuted, or the country irreparably harmed, had this one not been almost entirely preoccupied with trump's corrupt personal agenda. An agenda that includes being in violation of the Epstein File Transparency Act for over 6 months. Every day that goes by the DoJ is breaking that law.
If we are to return to any semblance of normalcy, even if it fails, the country must show the capacity for responding to what has happened to a once revered agency of the government. The process of impeachment against Blanche must be initiated.
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