How Trump fails to 'grasp the difference' between private and public lawyers: ex-DOJ official

Erez Reuveni, a senior attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), was placed on administrative leave after clashing with the Trump Administration over the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia — a Maryland resident wrongly deported to El Salvador as part of President Donald Trump's mass deportations effort.

Jesselyn Radack, a former DOJ ethics lawyer, discusses Reuveni in an article published by Salon on April 8. According to Radack, the Trump Administration's treatment of Reuveni shows a failure to distinguish between private attorneys and attorneys who work for the federal government.

"As a former Justice Department (DOJ) ethics attorney," Radack explains, "I was ousted for saying no to something questionable the government wanted to do, namely a harsh interrogation of an American captured in Afghanistan after 9/11 without his counsel present. So it is distressing to now read that the (Justice) Department has placed one of its top immigration lawyers on leave for failing to follow questionable orders."

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Radack continues, "The apparent infraction of the senior career attorney, Erez Reuveni, is that he truthfully conceded in court that the transfer of a Maryland man to an El Salvadoran gulag — despite a court order allowing the man to stay in the U.S. — was erroneous. Reuvani is among several recent high-level career officials who've suffered adverse personnel actions, including termination, for refusing to comply with a directive from Trump or his team to take an action the DOJ official determines to be illegal, unethical or both."

According to Radack, Trump fails to respect the independence that the DOJ is supposed to enjoy.

"The problem with President Trump is that he has a different view of government lawyers' obligations altogether: they are his personal attorneys," Radack warns. "A prime example is Trump's nominee for U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Ed Martin, whose confirmation was just put on hold by a congressman because Martin 'consistently undermined the independence and abused the power of the U.S. Attorney’s Office'…. Neither Trump, nor Blanche nor Martin seems to grasp the difference between a private attorney and one in the public sector, despite serving as president, deputy AG, and an interim U.S. attorney, respectively."

Radack adds, "They are also unwilling or unable to abide by basic ethics rules that govern all lawyers, despite multiple Trump attorneys having been suspended, disbarred, or sentenced to prison — think Rudy Giuliani, Michael Cohen, Kenneth Chesebro, John Eastman, and Jenna Ellis — for the same failure. In fact, many lawyers believe that government attorneys owe a higher duty to the public."

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Jesselyn Radack's full article for Salon is available at this link.