Attorneys who played a role in the postelection lawsuits filed by former President Donald Trump are now being targeted in what one attorne...
Attorneys who played a role in the postelection lawsuits filed by former President Donald Trump are now being targeted in what one attorney says is nothing more than intimidation, according to a new report.
More than 100 lawyers who worked on lawsuits filed in the wake of the November 2020 election are in the crosshairs of the 65 Project, which Axios labeled a “dark money group with ties to Democratic Party heavyweights.”
The report on Monday said the group “will spend millions this year to expose and try to disbar” the lawyers.
One person involved with the 65 Project told Axios that the goal is to “kill the pool of available legal talent going forward” through a “deterrent effect.”
The group, which takes its name from the number of lawsuits aimed at overturning the 2020 election results, is supported by Hillary Clinton backer David Brock, who founded Media Matters for America and the super PAC American Bridge 21st Century.
The concept was developed by Melissa Moss, a Democratic consultant and senior official in the Clinton administration, according to Axios.
Brock told the outlet that the project will target lawyers in an effort to ” them and make them toxic in their communities and in their firms.”
“I think the littler fish are probably more vulnerable to what we’re doing,” he said. “You’re threatening their livelihood. And, you know, they’ve got reputations in their local communities.”
Those being targeted said the goal is to ensure Democrats have a clear legal path to do as they please in the fall midterm elections and the 2024 presidential vote.
“This move is nothing more than a desperate attempt by leftist hacks and mercenaries,” Texas attorney Paul Davis said in an email to Axios.
Davis, who has been targeted for being at the Capitol during the incursion of Jan. 6, 2021, said the 65 Project seeks to “neutralize anyone on the right with the ability to stand in the way of the left’s efforts to hide malfeasance in the 2020 elections and to clear the path for a repeat of similar malfeasance in the 2022 mid-terms.”
In all, 111 attorneys in 26 states are being targeted, Axios reported. In tandem, the group will take out ads and seek to have bar associations codify language that says “fraudulent and malicious lawsuits to overturn legitimate election results violate the ethical duties lawyers must abide by.”
Lawyers will be targeted if they were part of Trump’s core legal team, including Jenna Ellis, Boris Epshteyn and Sidney Powell.
Also up for attack: Those who agreed to be electors if the slate of a state’s electors Trump challenged was thrown out, as well as those, like Davis, present in Washington on the day of the Capitol incursion.
Attorney Cleta Mitchell, who assisted the Trump campaign’s post-election legal efforts, said the effort targets only half of the political spectrum.
“I’m betting Marc Elias isn’t on the list,” she said, referring to Elias’ efforts to contest races that Democrats claimed they had won.
“Ok for Dem lawyers to file election challenges. Of course,” she told Axios in a text message.
John Eastman, who is facing a California Bar Association probe, said he “expects the Bar’s investigation into these matters will fully exonerate him from any charges,” his attorney said in a statement.
“As was his duty as an attorney, Dr. Eastman zealously represented his client, comprehensively exploring legal and constitutional means to advance his client’s interests,” the statement said.
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