By admin 
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — After U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro sought to charge U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona and five other Democratic U.S. lawmakers with federal crimes, a legal watchdog on Tuesday filed bar complaints accusing Pirro and two of her lieutenants of violating their ethical duties.
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In the bar complaints, the watchdog Legal Accountability Center claim Pirro and her subordinates, Carlton Davis and Steven Vandervelden, abused their prosecutorial powers to seek “meritless” indictments against President Donald Trump’s “perceived political enemies.”
In February, a grand jury in Washington refused to indict Sens. Kelly and Elissa Slotkin and four House Democrats for appearing in a video last year that called on troops to resist unlawful orders. Kelly is a retired U.S. Navy captain and combat pilot, while the other lawmakers also previously served in the military or at intelligence agencies.
Trump later accused the Arizona Democrat and the other lawmakers of sedition “punishable by DEATH” in a social media post.
In its complaint against Pirro, the Legal Accountability Center argued that her office had no legal basis for its “patently improper effort” to secure an indictment against Kelly and the five lawmakers.
“The only purpose could have been political animus and a desire to intimidate perceived enemies of the federal government and the President, who personally criticized the lawmakers’ video as seditious and punishable by death,” the complaint says.
It calls on bar officials to investigate whether Pirro and her colleagues violated rules of professional conduct for attorneys — and to “pursue appropriate discipline” against them.
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Tim Lauer, a spokesperson for Pirro’s Washington-based office, noted that it’s a grand jury’s job — not prosecutors’ — to decide whether to hand up an indictment.
“Attempting to weaponize the disciplinary process against prosecutors for doing their jobs amounts to nothing more than a frivolous complaint,” Lauer said in a statement.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has tried to punish Kelly for participating in the video. Kelly sued in federal court in January to block the censure from Hegseth. A district court judge ruled in his favor. Hegseth has asked an appeals court to review the decision.
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