A Little Sweet Revenge Against Democrats Threatening to Kill Careers of Trump Lawyers

Sure would be a shame if anything should happen to your legal career because you worked for Donald Trump.

You'd think that there might be an ethical issue running ads that threaten the careers of any lawyers if they work for Donald Trump, but this is the state of play in 2024 in the Democrats' Lavrentiy Beria political police state. Show me the man and I'll show you the crime. Rules of propriety are for you, not for us.

Those ads, which you can see here, are running in swing states online and in legal journals in this election—in effect promising the personal destruction of anyone who touches the Trump campaign.

Sure would be a shame if anything happened to your legal career if you represented Trump ...

Ads 65 Project is running in swing state law reviews and online. pic.twitter.com/TKDqNs92tO
— Victoria Taft, The Adult in the Room, FITF Squad (@VictoriaTaft) November 3, 2024

But now these bullies and extortionists may finally feel the heat for intentionally chilling the speech and threatening the livelihoods of any lawyers for working for Donald Trump in Election 2024. They may have to live by their own rules.

America First Legal has given the director of The 65 Project, Michael Teter, a taste of his own medicine and filed a bar complaint against him in the state of Utah, where he's licensed. America First is filing the complaint on behalf of Stefan Passantino, who represented Cassidy Hutchinson after Jan. 6.

Teter's name may be familiar to you. He pulled this "sure would be a shame" stunt in 2020. He's the Media Matters and David Brock-blessed lawyer behind the Dominion lawsuit against Fox News, and he was Ray Epps's attorney, the curious Jan. 6 "Fed! Fed! Fed!" who whispered into the ear of an alleged pro-Trump actor standing outside the Capitol Building barricades, and seconds later, the assault on the barricades began. Teter filed a defamation lawsuit against Fox on Epps's behalf.

Teter is definitely on Team Lawfare for the Democrats.

In the complaint, America First alleges that Teter had no personal knowledge of any ethical contretemps by Passantino, but filed complaints anyway. The complaint alleges that Teter broke the rules of professional conduct for "engaging in conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice by seeking to punish lawyers associated with a single client." The complaint also avers that Teter abused "the attorney grievance process to create a 'culture of deterrence' and ascribing class-wide misconduct against anyone who seeks to represent President Donald J. Trump." Teter is also accused of breaking the rules of the Utah bar, as well as the rules of professionalism and civility. In the sweetest of sweet revenge, America First demanded a hearing at which Teter must answer to the complaints.

In a statement, America First Legal announced that The 65 Project's actions and allegations against Passantino were meritless.

In the last several years, Teter has made good on his promise, filing nearly 100 ethics complaints against lawyers aligned with President Trump, signing them all himself.
Among these complaints was one against Mr. Passantino. On February 15th, 2023, Teter accused Mr. Passantino of providing deficient representation to Cassidy Hutchinson in front of the January 6 Committee. In the complaint, Teter alleged that Mr. Passantino sought “to obstruct the Select Committee’s inquiry to uncover the full context of the January 6 attack on our nation’s Capitol.” He claimed that AFL’s client breached confidentiality, advised his client to perjure herself, and sought to undermine the administration of justice.
But Teter had no firsthand knowledge of any of the accusations he made, which have now been proven false by the work of the Committee on House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight. In fact, most of the language in the complaint was boilerplate language used in many of his other complaints. The only allegations that were specific to Mr. Passantino relied entirely on allegations of the January 6 Committee, hearing transcripts, and one CNN news article that relied entirely on anonymous “sources.”

Passantino believes that the Jan. 6 Committee and Liz Cheney worked with Hutchinson to entrap Passantino on an obstruction charge. The 65 Project and other lawfare groups seized on Hutchinson's changing her testimony, which then put Trump in a bad light, contrary to her previous testimony. This change in testimony was used to set an obstruction trap for her attorney. It's a wild story, so watch the video below of Passantino and Tucker Carlson, starting at 40:00 mark.

Though there was no obstruction, The 65 Project went after Passantino to yank his law license.

Related: Fox News 'Is Dead,' and Tucker Carlson Is Already Living Large With a Job Offer

Teter and his phalanx of lawyers weaponize the law and rules, and resort to public relations smears to kill the careers of Trump lawyers. They do so through a death-by-a-thousand cuts series of complaints against lawyers for allegedly breaking ethical canons. Complete strangers, from lefty law professors to no-name lawyers, file complaints against Trump lawyers for insurrection-y sounding assaults on democracy.

After 2020, Teter and company pressured states to yank law licenses from former federal prosecutor Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Jenna Ellis, and others. Ken Chesebro just lost his New York law license "right before the election." Leftist attorney Michael Popok said that Chesebro was the "architect of the [2020] fake elector scheme...and likely prime witness against Donald Trump in the DC election interference case."

One commenter on this post said it all. He gloated, "Webster definition of MAGA: Make Attorneys Get Attorneys."

In September, The 65 Project started an ad campaign in swing state law journals and online ads, according to the New York Times, that openly threatens the livelihoods, careers, and First Amendment activity of any lawyers who help Trump in this election.

The group attacked Trump lawyers after the 2020 election, characterizing all 65 lawsuits filed post-election 2020 as attacks on democracy. The group began a withering orchestrated campaign against all lawyers helping their client. Eventually, the well-respected lawyer and law school academic John Eastman was run out of the legal profession by lefty lawyers who believed that Trump wasn't worthy of legal representation.

The 65 Project has spent "six figures" for the ads running in law journals and online ads in swing states.

The initial ad buy is six-figures and will be followed by additional digital ads and print ads in state bar journals
The initial ad buy includes AZ, GA, MI, PA, and WI and more states will be added in the next wave
It will be targeted to be directly seen by current and potential Big Lie Lawyers and conservative law fir
It will run on programmatic digital display and social media

America First Legal said of its bar complaint against Teter that his objective of "seeking the personal destruction and financial ruin of another lawyer – simply because of the client he represented or the cause he took up – runs counter to... the letter and spirit of the law governing the activities of lawyers," according to Reuters.

That's exactly what it sounds like. And that's why it should be stopped. Maybe getting a taste of their own medicine will do just that.