Elie Mystal: Start Suing The Trump Administration NOW For Ethical Violations Of The Law

The Nation's justice correspondent joined AM Joy to discuss how he'd be proceeding if he were Joe Biden's attorney general, to make sure our nation doesn't suffer through another toxic transition of power.
By Aliza Worthington — November 22, 2020

On AM Joy, Elie Mystal applauded Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. for officially coming for Rudy Giuliani's bar card, along with those of the rest of Trump's legal team. Mystal reminded viewers that there are actual ethical standards attorneys are sworn to uphold, including not bringing frivolous lawsuits into the courtroom. Giuliani is not only violating these standards, but for reasons most abhorrent to a rational American: overturning the results of an election. If these aren't actions that warrant disbarment, none exist.

Later on in the discussion, guest host Dr. Jason Johnson waved an imaginary magic wand, making Mystal Biden's attorney general. Johnson asked him what else he would do to make sure this kind of legal "brinkmanship" didn't happen again in any future elections. Mystal continued on in the same vein as earlier when he spoke of Pascrell's aggressive pursuit of consequences for the Trump team's egregious lawlessness.

MYSTAL: Well, first of all, I would apply all the ethical rules. Kurt brought up this GSA administrator, Emily Murray. She should be sued right now, okay? Not later, she should be sued right now for dereliction of her duty. And that's the kind of thing that I would bring that as Biden's attorney general. I would sue people for ethics violations. The Trump administration has been so ethically questionable that we kind of just let it roll over ourselves. Right? "It's an ethical violation, not a statutory." Look, ethics violations are there. We have rules, and those are supposed to be the guardrails. And when we have gotten so lax in this country about basic, ethical requirements, I would start -- I would start putting teeth behind those ETHICAL requirements. I would start suing people. I would start suing judges who give fundraising dinner invitations. I would start suing all of these people for their ETHICAL failures to bring America back to some level of moral standing.

Dr. Johnson heartily agreed, adding that he'd be fully in favor of impeaching the "highly incompetent judges" Trump and Mitch McConnell have put in place, who aren't qualified, yet are appointed for life. How legitimate are these appointments if the American Bar Association doesn't even give them a "qualified" rating?

Yet here is the GOP, ramming them through the Senate, while more then a quarter of a million Americans have died of COVID-19, and many more than that face eviction, poverty, and food insecurity, while bills that might bring them relief die on the desk of a giggling Moscow Mitch.

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