The Thug Forcing Law Firms to do Free Work For Trump Identified

Of course Donald Trump’s skeevy personal attorney is the one who has negotiated the almost $1 billion in free legal services from law firms the president has targeted as part of his revenge campaign.

Instead of meeting with government attorneys, Big Law firms that the administration has targeted have been shaken down by faux gangster Boris Epshteyn, the lawyer who led Trump’s effort to overturn former President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.

Epshteyn has worked for Trump since 2016. Before becoming Trump's legal goon, he worked briefly for the firm Milbank LLP. His business card lists his name, cell phone number, and Gmail account, and he takes weekly meetings at a steakhouse in Washington that he calls his unofficial office. Because of course he does.

Since February, Trump has used the power of the presidency to bully, intimidate, and punish law firms that have dared to stand up to his fascist regime, including firms that have refused to represent him or have helped investigate the criminal charges brought against him.

Trump has already issued executive orders attempting to strip lawyers of their security clearances, suspend government contracts, and limit attorneys’ entry to federal buildings. The administration has also opened several onerous investigations against the firms, including Equal Employment Opportunity Commission probes involving broad requests for information about firm employees and clients.

In response to the extortion, blackmail, threats, coercion, and forced free work, five Big Law firms agreed to do almost $1 billion worth of pro bono work and to change their hiring practices to fall in line with the Trump Administration's racist, sexist, and homophobic commands.

The firms were apparently hesitant to negotiating with Epshteyn since he doesn’t work for the government—especially since the White House would need to sign off on any agreements.

One firm, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, even went to Trump’s deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, in an unsuccessful bid to lower the pro bono amount Epshteyn had demanded. Blanche had previously worked at Cadwalader but left after the firm refused to let him represent Trump. Blanche, in an act of sheer and pure cowardice, told Cadwalader he wasn’t involved in the administration’s firm selection process.

So far, Trump has said he plans to put his new pro-bono army to work on behalf of the coal industry. Like a robber baron from a cartoon in the 40s.