Trump Justice Department aims to limit ethics probes into its lawyers

By Andrew Goudsward

WASHINGTON, March 4 (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department is seeking to constrain ethics investigations conducted at the state level into alleged misconduct by its lawyers, according to a proposed rule submitted on Wednesday that would shield prosecutors pursuing President Donald Trump's agenda.

The proposal would give the U.S. attorney general the right to review misconduct allegations against current or former Justice Department attorneys and request that disciplinary authorities at the state level suspend their investigations.

That would mean that the attorney general, by dragging out such a review, could stall any such investigation.

The proposal takes aim at the actions of bar associations and similar professional organizations, not government entities, that investigate alleged unethical conduct by lawyers and consider actions such as disbarment, which involves revoking a license to practice law.

For instance, an attorney ethics panel in Washington recommended last year that Jeffrey Clark, a senior Justice Department official during Trump's first term as president, be disbarred for conduct involving dishonesty.

Clark sought to enlist the Justice Department in Trump's failed attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss based on false claims of widespread voter fraud. Clark has denied wrongdoing. A District of Columbia appeals court will make the final determination on disbarment.

Under the new proposal, current or former Justice Department lawyers would be prohibited from assisting state-level investigations until the attorney general's review is finished.

Attorney General Pam Bondi, a Trump appointee, already has signed the draft rule, which will be open for public comment for 30 days starting on Thursday before it can go into effect.

Several current and former Justice Department lawyers are facing ethics complaints from outside groups for actions taken since Trump returned to the presidency last year. They include Ed Martin, the department's pardon attorney, and Lindsey Halligan, a former prosecutor who brought criminal charges - later thrown out of court - against Trump adversaries James Comey and Letitia James.

Justice Department officials have criticized state-level disciplinary investigations targeting Trump allies.

"We're going to do everything we can to take these activist bars out of the picture," Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, a former personal lawyer for Trump, said during a November conference run by the Federalist Society conservative legal group.

The proposed rule alleges that bar investigations are part of an effort to weaponize government against Trump and his allies, and risk "chilling the zealous advocacy by department attorneys on behalf of the United States, its agencies and its officers."

The proposed rule would not give the Justice Department the authority to outright end a state bar disciplinary investigation. State bar authorities do not have to defer to Justice Department internal findings under the proposal.

All U.S. states maintain attorney ethics rules that prohibit misconduct such as conflicts of interest, dishonesty or other professional breaches.