U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro and two deputies have been accused of ethical violations in bar complaints filed Tuesday by a legal watchdog. The filings stem from efforts to bring federal charges against six Democratic lawmakers over a video urging troops to disobey unlawful orders.
Submitted in New York and Virginia by the Legal Accountability Center, the complaints state that Pirro, Carlton Davis and Steven Vandervelden abused their authority to target President Donald Trump's "perceived political enemies" with "meritless" indictments.
In response, Tim Lauer, a spokesperson for Pirro's Washington-based office, stated that deciding whether to return an indictment is the responsibility of a grand jury, not prosecutors.
“Attempting to weaponize the disciplinary process against prosecutors for doing their jobs amounts to nothing more than a frivolous complaint,” Lauer said in a statement.
In February, a grand jury in Washington refused to indict Sens. Mark Kelly and Elissa Slotkin and four House Democrats for urging U.S. service members to follow established military protocols and reject orders they believe to be unlawful. All six lawmakers previously served in the military or at intelligence agencies. Trump accused them of sedition “punishable by DEATH” in a social media post.
A grand jury's refusal to return an indictment is extraordinarily rare, but it has become increasingly common in Washington during Trump's second term. Pirro's critics have accused her of pursuing other legally dubious and politically motivated cases at the Republican president's behest, such as the recently abandoned felony charge against a former Olympian who was accused of defacing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
The center has filed complaints against other Trump administration officials, including Ed Martin Jr., Pirro’s predecessor as U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. Martin has been a leading figure in Trump’s campaign to use the Justice Department to prosecute his political opponents.
In its complaint against Pirro, the center asks bar officials to investigate whether she and her colleagues violated rules of professional conduct for attorneys — and to “pursue appropriate discipline” against them. Its complaint against Pirro says her office had no legal basis for its “patently improper effort” to secure an indictment against the six lawmakers.
“The only purpose could have been political animus and a desire to intimidate perceived enemies of the federal government and the President, who personally criticized the lawmakers' video as seditious and punishable by death,” the complaint says.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has tried to punish Kelly, a former Navy pilot representing Arizona, for participating in the video. Kelly sued in federal court to block the censure from Hegseth. A district court judge ruled in his favor. Hegseth has asked an appeals court to review the decision.
The center filed its complaint against Pirro and Vandervelden with a grievance committee based in White Plains, New York. In New York, the state Supreme Court’s appellate division governs ethical complaints against attorneys. The center filed its complaint against Davis with the Virginia State Bar.
“Prosecutors have enormous power, and with that power comes an obligation to exercise independent legal judgment rather than use the criminal justice system to carry out a president’s political demands,” the center’s co-founder, Michael Teter, said in a statement.
Pirro, who served as a county prosecutor and judge in New York, left her Fox News hosting job to become the top federal prosecutor for Washington last year.
