St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner, a far-left prosecutor bankrolled by Democrat megadonor George Soros, announced on Thursday that she is resigning from her position after facing pressure from the state’s Republican attorney general to resign and as she is facing a criminal contempt investigation for failing to do her job.
“Unfortunately, since the time I took office, as the first Black, female prosecutor in the State, people outside of the city have targeted me and, to advance their goals, have also targeted the fundamental rights of the city’s voters,” she claimed in a statement.
“In recent days, for example, The Missouri State Legislature began hearings on a bill that appears to permanently remove the right of every St. Louis voter to elect their Circuit Attorney, the only remaining elected position in our city’s criminal justice system,” she said. “Instead, that bill gives the Governor the power to appoint our city’s chief prosecutor.”
She bemoaned that pressure to remove her from office mirrored Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ decision to remove a Soros-backed state attorney last year. Another Soros-backed state attorney in Florida said last week that she also expects DeSantis to remove her from office in the near future. DeSantis is the only governor to remove a Soros-backed prosecutor from office.
“This most recent bill is a part of a coordinated, long-standing strategy to undermine me and my efforts to make the City of St. Louis safer and fairer,” she claimed. “Since day one of my tenure as Circuit Attorney, I have experienced attacks on my reforms, on my judgment, on my integrity, on my prosecutorial discretion, on my responsibility to direct the limited resources of this office and more.”
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Gardner repeatedly portrayed herself as a victim throughout her statement, claiming that opponents were attacking her by making lots of “records requests” that stopped her office from functioning. She also claimed that criticisms of her “hard-working line attorneys” impacted their ability to perform their jobs.
“I can absorb those attacks, and I have,” she said, claiming that the people of her city were being disenfranchised and that prosecutors were being stopped from doing their jobs.
“If not for these two things, I would continue to fight tirelessly to maintain the job you selected me to serve,” she claimed. “The most powerful weapon I have to fight back against these outsiders stealing your voices and your rights is to step back.”
Her resignation is effective on June 1, 2023.
Missouri Judge Michael Noble said last week that he was appointing a special prosecutor to build a criminal contempt case against Gardner and Assistant Circuit Attorney Chris Desilets because they had repeatedly failed to show up in court.
“The circuit attorney’s office appears to be a rudderless ship of chaos,” Noble said in a court. “Ms. Gardner is the circuit attorney and it is her duty is to manage the caseload of each staff member. Mr. Desilets has approximately 104 felony cases. Any prudent practitioner would expect such a caseload to create countless irreconcilable conflicts. It does not appear she has made any reasonable efforts to prevent the resulting chaos. It appears that Ms. Gardner has complete indifference and a conscious disregard for the judicial process.”
Noble went as far as to say that the evidence supports the prospect that their level of contempt rises to a level of criminality.
“It appears that Ms. Gardner has complete indifference and a conscious disregard for the judicial process,” Noble said. “There is sufficient evidence of disdain and disrespect for the judicial process to determine that both Ms. Gardner and Mr. Desilets’ conduct support a finding of indirect criminal contempt. Furthermore, any attorney’s violation of a court’s order constitutes an intentional disobedience and shows a clear intent to disregard the power and authority of the judicial system process.”
Gardner was already facing a campaign from Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey to remove her from office because of her failure to protect victims from crime.
“As AG, I want to protect the people of St. Louis, and that includes protecting victims of crime and finding justice for them,” Bailey said, adding, “Instead of protecting victims, Circuit Attorney Gardner is creating them. My office will do everything in its power to restore order, and eliminate the chaos in St. Louis caused by Kim Gardner’s neglect of her office.”
Instead of protecting victims, Circuit Attorney Gardner is creating them. My office will do everything in its power to restore order, and eliminate the chaos in St. Louis caused by Kim Gardner’s neglect of her office.
— Attorney General Andrew Bailey (@AGAndrewBailey) February 23, 2023
Garnder’s announcement that she is resigning comes just a few days after she declared: “I ain’t leaving. I ain’t resigning. I ain’t doing nothing. You gonna have to remove me.”
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