Trump's attorneys general are racking up ethics complaints [View all]
Both Blanche and Bondi should be disbarred.
President Trump's attorneys general haven't exactly had great success prosecuting his personal opponents or pursuing his political aims, but they are succeeding at one thing: racking up ethics complaints.
— Matthew Kupfer (@matthewkupfer.bsky.social) 2026-05-28T19:42:12.759Z
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/trump-attorneys-general-justice-department-watchdog-ethics-complaints/
As they aggressively weaponize federal law enforcement, President Donald Trumps attorneys general are quickly amassing ethics complaints and they dont appear poised to stop anytime soon.
Both acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and his predecessor, Pam Bondi, received a fresh round of formal accusations this week. Lawyers and advocacy organizations believe they violated the core principles governing lawyer conduct while carrying out Trumps wide-ranging campaign of political retribution.
On Wednesday, a national watchdog group accused Blanche, one of Trumps former personal attorneys, of potentially breaching multiple ethical rules in the now-dismissed prosecution of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man whom the Trump administration wrongly removed to El Salvador last year.
Last week, a federal judge dismissed the case, finding that Blanche, who was deputy attorney general at the time, personally launched the criminal case against Abrego Garcia to vindictively punish him for challenging his illegal removal from the U.S.
In asking New Yorks attorney discipline committee to probe Blanche, the Campaign for Government Accountability (CfA) argued that he had abused his authority for political ends.
Blanches conduct in connection with the Abrego Garcia matter is a serious abuse of public office, undermines the integrity of the Department of Justice, and erodes public confidence in the legal profession and in the fair administration of justice, CfAs complaint reads. ,,,,,
Toward the end of Bondis term, the department proposed a new rule purporting to grant the attorney general authority to halt bar probes into complaints against DOJ officials if the department chooses to review the accusations first.
In theory, that could allow the department to indefinitely shield federal prosecutors who commit misconduct from any meaningful oversight by opening and stalling its own investigation.
The proposed rule generated a massive outcry from state bar associations, legal organizations, state attorneys general and legal scholars.