Pro-Trump lawyers who brandished guns at Black Lives Matter protesters may lose their licences

The pro-Trump lawyers who brandished guns at racial equality protesters outside their mansion may lose their law licenses.

Mark and Patricia McCloskey confronted a group of Black Lives Matter protestors in St Louis in June 2020 as they made their way through an exclusive gated community.

Now Missouri’s chief disciplinary counsel has asked the state’s Supreme Court to suspend their licenses.

In court filings, chief disciplinary counsel, Alan Pratzel, cited the couple’s guilty pleas to misdemeanors they were charged with following the incident.

Mark McCloskey, who is running for the US Senate, pleaded guilty on 17 June to misdemeanor fourth-degree assault and was ordered to pay a fine of $750.

Patricia McCloskey pleaded guilty on the same date to misdemeanor harassment and was ordered to pay a fine of $2,000.

Mr Pretzel stated that both crimes showed “indifference to public safety” and involved “moral turpitude,” warranting disciplinary action.

He recommended that the Supreme Court indefinitely suspend the McCloskeys’ licenses with no leave to reapply for reinstatement for six months.

The couple were pardoned by Missouri Governor Mike Parson on 30 July.

Mark McCloskey was unrepentant after his guilty plea, and said at the time: “The prosecutor dropped every charge except for alleging that I purposely placed other people in imminent risk of physical injury; right, and I sure as heck did.

“That’s what the guns were there for and I’d do it again any time the mob approaches me, I’ll do what I can to place them in imminent threat of physical injury because that’s what kept them from destroying my house and my family.”

Mr McCloskey is trying to win the Republican nomination for the US Senate seat being vacated by retiring Senator Roy Blunt.