Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) has formally requested an ethics investigation into U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell, who has presided over cases related to the January 6 riot and former President Trump, and is currently overseeing Rudy Giuliani’s defamation trial.
Stefanik alleges “judicial misconduct” based on a speech Howell delivered at a Women’s White Collar Defense Association gala last month.
Stefanik considers the speech, which touched on the impact of “big lies” in relation to the Capitol attack on January 6, 2021, and quoted historian Heather Cox Richardson’s book “Democracy Awakening,” as a “highly inappropriate political speech.” The judge did not mention Trump by name in the speech.