Trump Announces Shakedown Deal with Big Law Firm
Executive Watch has already noted Donald Trump’s threats against Big Law firms that have represented his political opponents. Now comes the news that his latest victim—a firm packed full of top-level lawyers—has nevertheless caved in to presidential extortion.
The New York Times reports:
President Trump and the head of the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP have reached a deal under which Mr. Trump will drop the executive order he leveled against the firm, Mr. Trump said on Thursday.
In the deal, Mr. Trump said, the firm agreed to a series of commitments, including to represent clients no matter their political affiliation and contribute $40 million in legal services to causes Mr. Trump has championed, including “the President’s Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, and other mutually agreed projects.” …
The firm, Mr. Trump said, also agreed to conduct an audit to ensure its hiring practices are merit based “and will not adopt, use, or pursue any DEI policies.” …
In a statement posted on social media by Mr. Trump, Mr. Karp said he is looking forward “to an engaged and constructive relationship with the president and his administration.”
Mr. Trump said he was taking the action to punish the firm for its ties to a lawyer who had pushed for him to be indicted and another who had brought a lawsuit against Jan. 6 rioters. The order barred the firm’s lawyers from dealing with the federal government and raised the possibility that its clients would lose their government contracts.
In short, a major law firm with a history of litigating civil rights cases is now in the pocket of the very government it is supposed to be challenging in court.
The abuse of executive power does not just depend on the executive. It depends on all the people in positions of power and influence who refuse to fight for their own rights and comply in advance. Many of leaders have proven too timid and complacent to defend their own institutions.
We have to look for new leaders with the actual courage to fight and rebuild new institutions around them.
The Executive Watch is a project of the Institute for the Study of Modern Authoritarianism, and its flagship publication The UnPopulist, to track in an ongoing way the abuses of the power of the American presidency. It sorts these abuses into five categories: Personal Grift, Political Corruption, Presidential Retribution, Power Consolidation, and Policy Illegality. Click the category of interest to get an overview of all the abuses under it.
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