Big Law Moves Big Time into Trump Administration – After Financing Hillary’s Campaign

by Pam Martens and Russ Martens, Wall Street On Parade:

President Donald Trump’s demands for loyalty from the individuals in his administration have been a hot topic for weeks in U.S. media. But what the media has yet to explain is how so many law partners from global corporate law firms that were outsized donors to Hillary Clinton’s presidential run last year, giving crumbs by comparison to Trump’s campaign, now hold seats of power throughout the Trump administration.

Let’s start with the weirdest example of all: Jones Day.  Wall Street On Parade reported earlier this year that on January 20, 2017 – the very day of Trump’s inauguration – Jones Day announced that a whopping 12 of its law partners were moving into the Trump administration. Among the 12, key slots went to Donald F. McGahn II as White House Counsel; Noel Francisco, first named as Principal Deputy Solicitor General and now Trump’s current nominee for Solicitor General; and Chad Readler, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division of the U.S. Justice Department.

For a cool dozen of one Big Law firm’s partners to simultaneously move into a new President’s administration is itself noteworthy. But equally noteworthy, the majority of partners of that particular law firm really didn’t like Trump. They wanted Hillary Clinton to be the President. As Bloomberg News reported on March 16, “…Jones Day’s lawyers contributed only $7,422” to Trump’s campaign, as reported by the Center for Responsive Politics. “That compares with $267,899 given to Hillary Clinton’s campaign,” according to the article.

Wall Street had to be very happy about the density of Jones Day partners in positions of power. The law firm’s clients include Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Deutsche Bank according to its official client roster.

One of the highly prized slots in any administration is Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Trump selected Jay Clayton, a law partner at Sullivan & Cromwell. Not only had Clayton’s law firm represented Goldman Sachs since the late 1800s but Clayton, himself, had served as Goldman’s outside counsel. Clayton’s wife, Gretchen, had worked at Goldman for the prior 17 years, rising to the title of Vice President. (His wife was expected to step down from Goldman following his Senate confirmation earlier this month.)

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