WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 The executive order against one of the country's most prestigious law firms followed a well-worn template as President Donald Trump roared down the road to retribution.
Reaching far beyond government, Trump has set out to impose his will across a broad swath of American life, from individuals who have been targeted to institutions known for their own flexes of power and intimidation.
Paul Weiss, a New York law firm born in 1875, got the word that it was in trouble.
attorneys be reviewed for suspension, federal contracts terminated and employee access to federal buildings restricted. One of its former lawyers once investigated Trump as a Manhattan prosecutor.
The decree was averted in the most Trumpian of ways 鈥攚ith a deal.
After a White House meeting with the firm's chairman yielded various commitments, including $40 million worth of legal work to support the administration's causes, the order was rescinded.
The episode showed not only Trump's aggressive use of the power of the presidency to police dissent and punish adversaries but also his success in extracting concessions from law firms, academia, Silicon Valley, corporate boardrooms and more.
Just one day after Paul Weiss' deal, at the risk of losing billions in federal money. Before that, ABC News and Meta reached multimillion-dollar settlements to resolve lawsuits from Trump.
鈥淭he more of them that cave, the more extortion that that invites,鈥 said Ty Cobb, a White House lawyer in 罢谤耻尘辫鈥檚 first term and now a critic. 鈥淵ou鈥檒l see other universities and other law firms and other enemies of Trump assaulted and attacked into submission because of that."
Some within the conservative legal community, by contrast, think Trump is operating within his rights.
Other targets have taken the opposite tack, deal suing over the executive orders. Judges on Friday temporarily blocked enforcement of key sections of those orders against Jenner & Block and WilmerHale.
If the submissions have been surprising, then Trump's interest in reprisal was less so, telegraphed as it was during the campaign. 鈥淚 am your retribution,鈥 he told supporters in March 2023.
But retribution for what, exactly? Against whom? How?
The answers would come soon.
鈥楢n Existential Crisis鈥
, Trump came immediately for the prosecutors who investigated him and the law firms he saw as sheltering them.
and some prosecutors who handled cases arising from the Jan. 6 riot.
from lawyers from Covington & Burling who provided legal representation for Smith himself during the threat of government investigations.
A subsequent order
Its business in the balance, Perkins Coie hired Williams Connolly, a firm with an aggressive litigation style, to contest the order. A federal judge said the administration鈥檚 action sent 鈥渃hills down my spine" and blocked portions of it. The decision could have been a precedent for other firms to rely on.
The Paul Weiss chairman said it, too, initially intended to sue over the order that targeted the firm in part because into 罢谤耻尘辫鈥檚 finances for the Manhattan district attorney. But even a courtroom victory wouldn't erase clients' perception that it was 鈥減ersona non grata鈥 with the administration, according to an internal email from the firm's chairman, Brad Karp.
Support from fellow firms never materialized and some even sought to exploit Paul Weiss' woes, Karp said.
When the opportunity came to cut a deal in a White House meeting, he took it, pledging free legal services for causes Trump supports, like the fight against antisemitism.
The outcry was swift. Lawyers outside the firm ridiculed what they saw as a weak-kneed response. More than 140 alumni of the firm assailed the capitulation in a letter.
Within days, Jenner & Block and WilmerHale, were hit with executive orders over their affiliation with prosecutors on that investigated him during his first term. Both sued and got orders blocking sections of the edicts. Trump, meanwhile, has unleashed a new directive to sanction any lawyer who brings 鈥渇rivolous鈥 litigation against the government.
鈥淚 just think,鈥 Trump said, 鈥渢hat law firms need to behave themselves.鈥
Inside the ivory tower
Another New York institution was facing its own crucible.
Trump had taken office against the backdrop of protests at Columbia University tied to Israel's war with Hamas. The protests prompted its president to resign and made the Ivy League school a target of critics who said an overly permission campus environment had let antisemitic rhetoric flourish.
The Trump administration in March arrested a Palestinian activist and legal permanent resident in his university-owned apartment building and began investigating whether Columbia sought by the U.S. over their involvement in the demonstrations.
The administration also canceled $400 million in grants and contracts for the school and demanded changes as a condition for restoring the money.
Two weeks later, then- said she would implement nearly everything sought by the White House. Columbia on Friday announced Armstrong's exit from the position.
He went after media, too
ABC News agreed to pay $15 million toward presidential library to settle a defamation lawsuit over anchor George Stephanopoulos鈥 inaccurate on-air assertion that Trump had been found civilly liable for raping writer
Then agreed to pay $25 million to settle a lawsuit filed by after it suspended his Facebook accounts after on the Capitol.
The Trump administration, meanwhile, has taken action against news organizations it disagrees with. from the small group of journalists who follow the president in the pool and other events after the news agency declined to follow 罢谤耻尘辫鈥檚 order to rename the Gulf of Mexico. AP sued.
On Friday, halted the administration鈥檚 efforts to dismantle Voice of America, a U.S. government-funded international news service.
