“The 65 Project, falsely parading as a bipartisan entity, is nothing short of a political intimidation tool,” Gooden wrote. “This group initiated a dangerous crusade during the Biden administration against legal professionals simply for performing their duties.”

Attorneys targeted by 65 Project want to see DOJ inquiry

Among those targeted was famed legal scholar Alan Dershowitz, who defended Trump during his first Senate impeachment trial. Although Dershowitz is a lifelong Democrat, the 65 Project filed a bar complaint against him after he signed on to a legal challenge of Arizona’s 2022 gubernatorial election, despite his limited role in the filing. Dershowitz beat the complaint but says it cost him more than $100,000 to defend himself.

“I won every case against me — but [65 Project] clearly deters lawyers from doing the right thing,” Dershowitz told the Washington Examiner. “They are the most evil group of lawyers I’ve encountered since the days of segregation in the South in the 1950s.”

The group has also gone after Trump legal adviser John Eastman, filing an ethics complaint tied to his role in post-2020 election legal challenges. Eastman said the group’s aim was clear: to scare attorneys into silence.

“They’ve made clear their goal is to render [lawyers] so toxic in their firms and communities that no one will want to take on these kinds of cases again,” Eastman said. “That’s a direct threat to the rule of law and our adversarial system of justice.”

He called the complaint against him “so woefully inadequate and demonstrably false” that it should have resulted in sanctions against the group itself.

Attorney Bill Bock, who represented Trump in a Wisconsin election lawsuit, was similarly hit with a complaint — despite a judge in his case explicitly stating that Bock’s claims were not frivolous.

“In our case, the judge said our claims had merit,” Bock said. “Despite that, the 65 Project sought to bring disciplinary proceedings against us just for representing President Trump.”

Victims decry 65 Project’s tactics as ‘lawfare on steroids’

Bock argued the group’s actions go far beyond political advocacy.

“It’s lawfare on steroids,” he said. “They’re trying to deprive Republicans and President Trump of legal counsel. That strikes at the very heart of what keeps us a free society.”

He went further, suggesting Bondi should investigate whether the group engaged in criminal conduct.

“They engaged in a conspiracy against rights,” Bock said, citing 18 U.S. Code § 241. “The Constitution guarantees due process and free access to the courts — and they tried to deprive us of that for political reasons.”

Bondi’s office has not yet commented on the request.

Silence from the ABA

Gooden’s letter also slammed the American Bar Association for remaining silent on the 65 Project’s tactics, when the ABA has been highly vocal against Trump’s recent efforts to reign in Big Law firms that have historically avoided representing conservative causes and clients, and in some cases have employed lawyers who were directly involved in 2016 efforts to raise possible connections between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia.

“The ABA has still taken no action or even commented against these groups or their tactics,” Gooden wrote. “Yet they quickly condemned President Trump’s efforts to ensure law firms with government access aren’t engaged in partisan warfare.”

Trump has struck deals with major firms in recent days, prompting firms including Willkie Farr & Gallagher, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, and Paul Weiss to settle and agree to commit hundreds of millions of dollars in pro bono work to causes that Trump champions. The agreements came after he threatened a number of penalties against those firms, such as stripping their employees of their security clearances, restricting access to federal buildings, and threatening to cut ties with government contractors using their firms.

PAIR OF LAW FIRMS SUE TRUMP OVER SECURITY CLEARANCE PUNISHMENT

Gooden urged Bondi to investigate the 65 Project’s funding, as well as whether there is any coordination with politically aligned law firms or potential violations of legal ethics. He also called for revoking security clearances or legal privileges for any individuals or firms “complicit in undermining our legal system’s integrity.”

The Washington Examiner contacted the 65 Project but did not receive a response.

Read the letter below:

Gooden asks AG Pam Bondi to investigate 65 Project by reportoftheday on Scribd