Pro-Trump Lawyer Kurt Olsen Faces Call for Discipline Over Ethics

Another lawyer involved in actions to undermine the results of the 2020 and 2022 elections is now facing calls for professional discipline.

Attorney Kurt Olsen, who counseled former President Donald Trump in his attempt to use the U.S. Justice Department to overturn his 2020 election loss, is at the center of an ethics complaint filed by pro-democracy groups last week.

The States United Democracy Center and Lawyers Defending American Democracy are asking the Maryland Attorney Grievance Commission and the District of Columbia’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel to investigate Olsen’s actions, which include counseling Kari Lake as she unsuccessfully petitioned the Arizona Supreme Court to overturn her 2022 gubernatorial loss.

The groups allege that Olsen flouted his responsibilities as an attorney and engaged in unethical conduct by spreading election lies.

“Kurt Olsen has abused his law license to spread lies about our elections in the courtroom time and time again, and his pattern of unethical conduct shows he’s not going to stop,” said Gillian Feiner, Senior Counsel at the States United Democracy Center.

Olsen did not immediately reply to a request for comment Monday.

Olsen helped bring Texas v. Pennsylvania in 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court case that aimed to stop Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin from certifying Trump’s election loss in those states. In 2022, Olsen participated in Lake v. Hobbs, the election contest in Maricopa County, Arizona Superior Court that claimed the results of the governor’s race, which Lake lost to Gov. Katie Hobbs, should be overturned.

Both cases were dismissed due to a lack of evidence. In Arizona, Olsen has already faced disciplinary action for submitting false information to the Arizona Supreme Court.

Olsen, who is licensed to practice law in Maryland and Washington, D.C., had multiple phone conversations with Trump on the day of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and is currently representing Lake in her ongoing election challenges ahead of her bid for the U.S. Senate.

The ethics complaint call for a swift investigation into Olsen’s misconduct as well as immediate interim discipline. The groups said his participation in multiple frivolous election-related lawsuits based on false and misleading claims poses a risk to the public.

The complaint is the latest in a string of legal actions levied at attorneys for their roles in attempting to subvert the results of recent elections.

Pro-Trump lawyer Stefanie Lambert is facing four felony charges in Michigan for her alleged involvement in a conspiracy to obtain and improperly access voting machines used in the 2020 presidential election. In March, she was arrested in connection to the case and later released on bond.

Earlier this month, Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, federal prosecutor, and legal adviser to Donald Trump, was disbarred in New York after a court found he repeatedly made false statements about Trump’s 2020 election loss.