(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., filed an ethics complaint arguing that a federal judge in the Washington D.C. District Court who has overseen many Jan. 6 cases—and some involving former President Donald Trump and his allies—engaged in judicial misconduct.
According to Stefanik, Judge Beryl Howell, an Obama appointee, delivered a “highly inappropriate” political speech at a gala last month, NBC News reported.
🚨🚨🚨 I filed a Complaint of Judicial Misconduct against Judge Beryl Howell, because election interference by judges destroys public confidence in the federal judiciary, tears apart the fabric of our Republic, and is illegal. It must end now.
DC Obama Judge Beryl Howell gave a… pic.twitter.com/LBBDmK5CXb
— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) December 15, 2023
Stefanik submitted her complaint to D.C. Court of Appeals Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan, noting that on Nov. 27, Howell delivered remarks while accepting an award at the Women’s White Collar Defense Association gala.
“My D.C. judicial colleagues and I regularly see the impact of big lies at the sentencing of hundreds, hundreds of individuals who have been convicted for offense conduct on Jan. 6, 2021, when they disrupted the certification of the 2020 presidential election at the U.S. Capitol,” Howell said while accepting the award.
Howell also suggested that Americans are enduring a “surprising and downright troubling moment” in history, due to the dismissal of “the importance of facts,” which hold an essential place in “democracy.”
“As district court judges, we are all about the facts,” she claimed, alluding to Trump and other Republicans without saying their names specifically.
According to Stefanik, such remarks were “plainly inappropriate, consisting of partisan statements, election interference, and improper extrajudicial statements while criminal cases are pending.”
She also suggested that Howell, an Obama-appointee, stoked hysteria about the status of former President Donald Trump when she cited a recently-published book, Democracy Awakening, by Heather Cox Richardson.
According to Richardson, the U.S. is “at a crossroads, teetering on the brink of authoritarianism” as embodied by Trump.
With little else to campaign on, many other Democratic media outlets, pundits and politicians have since gone on to deliver similar talking points, despite the alarming implications of their rhetorical brinksmanship.
As such, Stefanik noted, Howell essentially used the awards ceremony to deliver a pro-Democrat stump speech, meant to promote “the Democrat political campaign theme that the re-election of Donald Trump equates to America choosing authoritarianism” and eventually “fascism in America,” while hiding behind thinly coded dogwhistles.
“I filed a judicial misconduct complaint against Judge Howell, because election interference by judges destroys public confidence in the federal judiciary, tears apart the fabric of our Republic, and is illegal,” Stefanik said. “It must end now.”
Howell is currently overseeing several Jan. 6 cases, as well as a high-profile defamation lawsuit against former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
The suit was brought by Fulton County election official Ruby Freeman and her daughter, who were caught suspiciously scanning ballots at the State Farm Arena during the 2020 election after having sent poll watchers and media home for the night due to a leaky toilet.
Despite the fact that they already were public figures when Giuliani called the case to national attention and the fact that his allegations against them have never been proven demonstrably false, Howell issued a unilateral pre-trial ruling of guilt against Giuliani. The trial is now to determine how much compensation he owes them in the lawsuit.
On Friday, a jury awarded a staggering $148 million in damages.
