Well, someone opened up that can of worms! Steve Bannon, on a live broadcast about law firms, said the very, very quiet part out loud. Well, we do expect something like that from Bannon. The man is an insane nutjob who occasionally outdoes even Trump. He’s actually past the slime level of Stephen Miller. And almost Trump. That’s not something to be proud of. With thanks to Raw Story:
New court documents allege that pro-MAGA podcaster Steve Bannon was a secret operative helping President Donald Trump and the White House extort nearly $1 billion from the nation’s top law firms. Trump’s personal lawyer, Boris Epshteyn, is also named alongside Bannon. Bloomberg Law reported that Epshteyn connected at least two firms to the Commerce Department for trade work.
Wonderful. Just the thing we (didn’t) need to hear. It’s only a little surprising that Steve Bannon was in on this. The man is repulsive. We must have been happy when he finally *had* to go to jail. Wish it had been for a longer time. But he was in on this. The probably no-bid companies Epshteyn had brought in – well, that’s obvious. It’s the “buddy” network, the whole back-scratching people. Especially the people who had money to “invest”. The dark side of buildings and companies.
Neither man holds an official government job — and that’s the problem. The American Bar Association’s court filing argues that their communications with the White House cannot be shielded by executive privilege, the legal protection that lets presidents keep internal advice secret, because they are private citizens. “Let me repeat this: There [are] major law firms in Washington, D.C.,” Bannon said in a televised interview. “What we are trying to do is put you out of business and bankrupt you.”
On March 19, 2025, White House senior policy strategist May Mailman sent an urgent message to White House counsel and Justice Department officials with a draft executive order attached — subject line: “ASAP Paul Weiss Order.” Internal government emails produced in the case confirm that Trump was personally directing the effort. “Per POTUS, this EO needs to be ready now,” Mailman wrote with a draft titled “Solving_Paul_Weiss_v2.docx.”
Nuts. I’m not going to be able to include the article from which I’m jumping off. Let me just say that the links included are extremely interesting to read. It would be worth your time to take a look. Now, looking at the information above, that definitely looks like extortion to me (Gee, ya THINK???!!) Steve Bannon is the kind of monster who would enjoy this sort of thing. Somewhere in there, some money must have crossed his palm, but we can be sure we won’t find out about that. What a pity. I’ll have to dig into Paul Weiss.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) has called the scheme “extortion.” And Lawfare explained that the term was legally defensible because prosecutors could argue “that the Trump administration extorted the law firms by accepting pro bono legal services, knowing that the law firms promised such services in the hope that President Trump would be influenced not to issue an executive order targeting the firms.”
You know all the bullshit that went on with that. I was raging about some part of it nearly every day. It did get into the tedious stage of ‘We know it sucks to see all of this”, but it needs to be said. I try not to cover Trump every day, but that’s probably getting to the point where we’re tired of it, too. We still need to keep our eyes open for the little things, like this extortion, because the records may be washed away and lost. That’s one good thing about my lists. I record things that are interesting and worth having. I want to keep the BadA$$ judges going. And you can always make a suggestion for a column. But now, it’s late and time to wrap it up.
See you tomorrow!
Friends, I know everybody begs you for money. I promise you that, of all the outlets bugging you for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest-working. We’re a bunch of old, disabled people, except for one writer in his mid-50s. But the rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the ability to continue our quest to tell the truth about Trump and help ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thank you. Ursula
