A GOP lawmaker said that a DC judge made an ‘inappropriate political speech.’
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) on Friday filed a complaint against a District of Columbia federal judge who has overseen a number of cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach and rejected arguments from former President Donald Trump’s attorneys.
The ethics complaint was filed against Judge Beryl Howell, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, has issued rulings against a number of Jan. 6 defendants, and also levied a fine against Elon Musk’s X platform, formerly known as Twitter, after the company refused to hand over access to posts, direct messages, and data related to President Trump’s account to special counsel Jack Smith.
The judge, who recently stepped down as the chief judge for the D.C. court, also supervised the grand jury for special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe, which ended in 2019, as well as Mr. Smith’s indictment of President Trump, and she also declared that the first impeachment inquiry targeting the former president is legal. Earlier this year, Judge Howell sided with the Smith special counsel team in saying that there was sufficient evidence that President Trump “intentionally concealed” classified material from attorneys.
Ms. Stefanik’s complaint, filed with D.C. Court of Appeals Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan, centers on comments that Judge Howell made, describing it as a “highly inappropriate political speech.”
In her speech, the judge “suggested reelecting President Trump will lead to fascism in America,” wrote Ms. Stefanik, the House Republican Conference chair. “Judge Howell’s partisan speech is obviously highly inappropriate election interference by a federal judge that undermines the public’s trust in our courts.”
The judge “gave a highly inappropriate speech in which she insinuated the election of President Trump will lead to fascism in America,” she wrote on X. “She also inappropriately allowed a public display of her cozy personal relationships with her partisan friends who appear before her, including the Biden Deputy Attorney General who supervises the January 6 criminal prosecutions.”
