Giuliani’s role in the filing of baseless cases along with his false public statements made in connection with these lawsuits have led to several disastrous consequences for him. He was found liable in a related defamation case for $14 million in damages, bringing him financial ruin and causing him to declare bankruptcy. A federal judge ordered Giuliani to turn his New York apartment, his vintage Mecedes-Benz car, 26 watches, and other personal property over to a receivership controlled by the defamation victims. On the first day of a trial in January 2025, to determine if Giuliani had to turn over even more of his possessions, including his Florida home and New York Yankees World Series rings, Giuliani reached an undisclosed settlement with the plaintiffs. These financial consequences alone represent quite a fall from grace for a former US Attorney, mayor of New York City, and personal counsel to a president.
The penalties visited upon him by ethics authorities have been equally severe. First, he lost his license to practice law in New York, being disbarred in that state. The disciplinary proceedings found that Guiliani violated New York Rules of Professional Conduct 4.1 for making untruthful statements to others; Rule 8.4(c) for engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation; and Rule 8.4(h) for engaging in any other conduct that adversely reflects on the lawyer’s fitness as a lawyer. A few months later, in the summer of 2021, he also was disbarred in the District of Columbia after having been licensed to practice there for 48 years. A disciplinary board of the DC Bar made a scathing recommendation to disbar Giuliani, citing his “utter disregard for facts” in challenging the 2020 election results. Since the New York bar and the District of Columba bar have reciprocity, his disbarment in the District of Columbia following his disbarment in New York was quite predictable. The DC court added that Giuliani had been given the opportunity to respond to the charges against him and he completely failed to do so.
John Eastman
If Giuliani served as a field marshal for the filing of baseless cases, John Eastman was an architect of the “stop the steal” campaign. Although he has not yet been disbarred, his disbarment seems a practical certainty following a thorough and meticulously supported recommendation by California Bar Court Judge Yvette Roland. She presided over a 35-day hearing at which 23 witnesses testified and more than 700 exhibits were entered. She found Eastman culpable of 10 disciplinary charges filed against him by the California State Bar’s Office of Chief Trial Counsel, including two counts of seeking to mislead a court and six counts of moral turpitude for making misrepresentations. Judge Roland found that Eastman “transgress[ed] . . . ethical limits by advocating, participating in and pursuing a strategy to challenge the results of the 2020 election that lacked evidentiary or legal support,” and recommended that Eastman be stripped of his California license to practice law. Her recommendation is now before the California Supreme Court, which will have the final say on Eastman’s disbarment. Meanwhile, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals has suspended Eastman’s ability to practice law in DC on an interim basis awaiting a final ruling in California.
Jenna Ellis
Jenna Ellis was one of Trump’s key foot soldiers in trying to overturn election results in Georgia and Arizona. Ellis was charged criminally in both states. She pled guilty to a felony charge of aiding and abetting false statements and writings in the Georgia case. In Arizona, nine felony charges against her were dropped in exchange for her entering into a cooperation agreement to testify truthfully against 17 other defendants.
The Colorado Supreme Court previously publicly censured her for misconduct related to “reckless, knowing or intentional misrepresentations” she made on Twitter, Fox Business, and other media in violation of Colorado Rules of Professional Conduct Rule 8.4(c), engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation. More recently, Colorado suspended her from practicing law for three years pursuant to a settlement agreement between Ellis and disciplinary counsel. In the agreement, Ellis acknowledged “the harm caused to the nation by the post-election activities of 2020 on behalf of then-President Trump” and the “cynical ‘Stop the Steal’ campaign.”
Jeffrey Clark
Jeffrey Clark was a high-ranking official in the Department of Justice who supported the stop the steal campaign. Like Jenna Ellis, he has been criminally charged in Georgia. A three-member Disciplinary Panel of the DC Bar found that Clark had violated several ethics rules for engaging in dishonest conduct. The disciplinary investigators have said they plan to seek his disbarment.
Conclusion
It is clear that ethics authorities in some states have taken the misdeeds of Trump’s stop the steal lawyers quite seriously, imposing penalties as harsh as disbarment and suspension from practice. It seems likely, as in the case of John Eastman, a former law school dean and law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, that more such penalties will be imposed in the near future. Collectively, the severe penalties reflect the gravity of many of Trump’s lawyers’ misconduct and serve as a stark warning to future lawyers tempted to abuse the legal system for potential political gain.
