emhoff Doug 1st g
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trump target law firm willkie farr cave to pro bono
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above law
joseph Baio worked at Willkie Farr for 47 years. As a partner, he’d served on the firm’s executive committee. Most recently, the dean of the firm’s lawyers worked as a senior counsel. It takes a lot to make someone leave the firm they’ve worked with — and at times helped lead — for almost half a century. But Willkie Farr managed to find a way to alienate its longest-serving attorney when it turned coward and agreed to give Trump $100 million in pro bono legal services and somehow even more in dignity.
Baio informed the current executive committee that he was leaving to “join the fight against governmental tyranny, unconstitutional decrees and social injustice, particularly at this critical time,” a statement that deserves a swelling orchestral accompaniment befitting the end of a courtroom drama. It’s also a succinct acknowledgement of a lawyer’s ethical responsibilities that seems lost on some Biglaw firms right now.
While a number of associates have publicly broke ties over the settlements and some law students are already telling firms in the “Order of the Obsequious” that they are turning their backs on recruiting efforts, Baio is the most senior lawyer to depart a firm over a settlement. He is unlikely to be the last.
Baio’s position as counsel affords him more flexibility than many partners, who cannot bolt on a dime and have to negotiate smooth transitions for their books of business at other firms. But Above the Law is already aware of corporate clients informing surrendering firms that they will take their business elsewhere in light of the concessions, seeing the deals as confirmation that the firms are incapable of standing up for themselves let alone their clients. When clients start threatening to walk in search of firms with backbone — or at least no drama — the partners will start trying to figure out how to move with them.
Part of a smooth transition — and keeping their next firm off of Trump’s radar — involves keeping a low profile, so don’t expect many partners to publicly tie their departures to the Trump settlements. Relatedly, they have to find new homes for their books that aren’t going to turn around and create the same problem. All of this takes time.
But when you see a statistically significant uptick over the next two quarters of posts from partners at these firms that begin “Thrilled to announce my next chapter!” keep these settlements in mind.
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[### Doug Emhoff's law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher reaches ...
Reuters
https://www.reuters.com › world › trump-says-he-reach...](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-says-he-reached-settlement-deal-with-law-firm-willkie-farr-gallagher-2025-04-01/)
Apr 3, 2025 — The law firm of former Vice President Kamala Harris's husband struck a deal with Donald Trump to avert an executive order targeting its business.
[### Willkie Farr strikes deal with Trump, agrees to $100M in ...
Daily Journal
https://www.dailyjournal.com › articles › 384718-willkie...](https://www.dailyjournal.com/articles/384718-willkie-farr-strikes-deal-with-trump-agrees-to-100m-in-services-ends-dei)
Apr 1, 2025 — Willkie Farr & Gallagher is the latest law firm to comply with President Donald Trump's executive orders, agreeing to provide $100 million in legal services ...
[### How Trump Is Putting Law Firms in a No-Win Situation
The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com › U.S. › Politics](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/09/us/politics/trump-law-firms-orders.html)
Apr 9, 2025 — Willkie Farr & Gallagher last week became the latest law firm to strike a deal with the White House and escape President Trump's wrath.
[### Willkie Farr & Gallagher, Skadden and Milbank sign ...
Leaders League
https://www.leadersleague.com › news › willkie-farr-and...](https://www.leadersleague.com/de/news/willkie-farr-and-gallagher-skadden-and-milbank-sign-agreements-with-trump-administration)
Apr 8, 2025 — Three more US law firms have chosen to strike a deal with Donald Trump. Willkie Farr & Gallagher, Skadden and Milbank have each pledged $100 ...
[### Willkie Loses Longest-Serving Lawyer Over Trump Surrender Above the Law
https://abovethelaw.com › 2025/04 › willkie-loses-longes...](https://abovethelaw.com/2025/04/willkie-loses-longest-serving-lawyer-over-trump-surrender/)
Apr 9, 2025 — Willkie Farr managed to find a way to alienate its longest-serving attorney when it turned coward and agreed to give Trump $100 million in pro bono legal ...
[### Trump announces $100M deal with law firm tied to Doug ...
The Hill
https://thehill.com › homenews › administration › 5226...](https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5226557-trump-doug-emhoff-law-firm/)
Apr 1, 2025 — The agreement with Willkie Farr & Gallagher states that the firm will provide the equivalent of $100 million in pro bono legal services for ...
[### Willkie Farr strikes deal to avoid Trump executive order
The Global Legal Post
https://www.globallegalpost.com › news › willkie-farr-s...](https://www.globallegalpost.com/news/willkie-farr-strikes-deal-to-avoid-trump-executive-order-112994621)
Apr 2, 2025 — Willkie Farr & Gallagher has become the latest Big Law firm to strike a deal with President Donald Trump to avoid a harmful executive order.
[### Judge bars Trump order against law firm tied to Robert ...
Reuters
https://www.reuters.com › world › us-judge-blocks-tru...](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-judge-blocks-trump-order-against-law-firm-wilmerhale-2025-05-27/)
2 days ago — WilmerHale was among four law firms that sued the administration over Trump's orders, which suspended their lawyers' security clearances and ...
[### Willkie Farr & Gallagher, home to Kamala Harris' husband ...
ABA Journal
https://www.abajournal.com › news › article › willkie-ho...](https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/willkie-home-to-kamala-harris-husband-settles-with-trump)
Apr 2, 2025 — Willkie Farr & Gallagher has reached a deal with President Donald Trump to avoid the fate of other BigLaw firms.
[### Another big law firm cuts a deal with White House to avoid ...
Politico
https://www.politico.com › news › 2025/04/01 › law-fir...](https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/01/law-firm-cuts-deal-avoid-sanctions-00265285)
Apr 1, 2025 — Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP agreed to provide $100 million in free legal services to causes favored by the Trump administration.
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// hurric BS?
alternet-
Extremists posing as aid workers urge NC locals to tear down cell towers and hit military
Michael Lewis Arthur Meyer booking photo from 2018
Michael Lewis Arthur Meyer booking photo from 2018 (Courtesy Tucson Police Department)
Jordan Green November 02, 2024
A group of anti-government extremists who showed up in western North Carolina promising to provide disaster relief after Hurricane Helene is now threatening to destroy cell-phone towers and sabotage military vehicles.
The group, Veterans on Patrol, attracted attention by setting up a disaster relief staging area in the parking lot of the Ingles grocery store in Lake Lure, about 50 miles from Asheville.
But locals, including some who initially cooperated with the group, began to complain about threats and harassment.
Over the past three weeks, members of the group, which falsely claims that Helene was caused by a “weather weapon,” have been making conspiracy-driven claims that the U.S. military is attempting to kill U.S. citizens with “directed energy weapons.”
ALSO READ: Inside the grift that could cost Donald Trump the election
Veterans on Patrol’s channel on the encrypted social-media platform Telegram posted a message on Thursday displaying photos of what appears to be a cell tower on a mountaintop. The message asserted that locals “are in Live Exercises where the United States Military is permitted to destroy your homes, bodies and minds,” while suggesting that equipment on the tower “is solely for providing the U.S. military the means to murder Americans.”
“Focus on tearing down their weapons,” the message reads. It continues, “All it takes is one weapon tower being toppled with the stated reason spoken boldly.”
Another message posted in the group’s Telegram channel appears to advocate for sabotaging military vehicles and assets.
“Simple acts of pouring sugar into fuel tanks of military equipment, backup power systems, and personal vehicles of military personnel can wreak havoc on those who murdered all these people out here,” reads the message, which was posted on Wednesday.
Soldiers from Fort Liberty and Fort Campbell have deployed to western North Carolina to assist in the disaster response, along with National Guard members from nine states.
Veterans on Patrol is led by Michael Lewis Arthur Meyer, who has a long history of anti-government extremism, dating back at least 10 years. Meyer, according to the extremism watchdog group Southern Poverty Law Center, is not a veteran.
Reached by phone on Friday, Meyer doubled down on the threats.
“Jesus used bullwhips and flipped tables,” he told Raw Story. “We’re going to use our bullwhips and topple towers.”
At first during the interview, Meyer argued that the Telegram messages weren’t advocating for targeting cell towers, saying instead that the group would “surgically” remove the supposed “directed energy weapons." He went on to say that they would provide Appalachian residents with generators and Starlink boxes so they could maintain power and communication links.
Asked about the message referencing “pouring sugar into fuel tanks,” Meyer told Raw Story: “We’re going to destroy your tanks…. You want to get dirty? That’s what we should be doing.”
Veterans on Patrol has promoted multiple conspiracy theories based on false claims since arriving in western North Carolina.
One message posted on Telegram on Oct. 22 claimed that “Helene was a Weather Weapon steered to destroy the area, while also claiming that the investment fund BlackRock is attempting a “land grab” and describing the storm and its aftermath as “an act of war perpetrated against the People.”
As the final day of voting in the presidential election approaches, posts on the group’s Telegram channel have taken on an increasingly urgent tone.
The Oct. 22 post claimed that “stolen elections” are a real phenomenon, along with “weather weapons,” “Satanic pedophiles” and “adrenochrome," which refers to a QAnon conspiracy theory that a cabal of elites tortures children to extract a chemical from their bodies which is then used as a recreational drug.
In another post last week, a Veterans on Patrol member nicknamed “Shepherd” claimed that the U.S. Air Force command is instructing pilots “to deploy additional weather weapons.” The post goes on to say, “These people don’t have 2 weeks to wait for vote and 3 months to hopefully wait for a Regime change.”
Another message on the group channel that was published on Wednesday suggests without basis that Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff is the beneficiary of BlackRock’s supposed landgrab.
Speaking to Raw Story, Meyer seemed to all but dare law enforcement to intervene.
“For people to go and do something to prevent weapons from being deployed — that’s not a crime,” he said. “If they want to bring this to court and charge us with conspiracy, then let’s go.”
The FBI did not respond to an inquiry about Veterans on Patrol's activities, but Meyer told Raw Story in an email that he "would imagine the FBI knows full well what we are attempting through Operation Leaning Tower."
Meyer told Raw Story that he notified the office of Gov. Roy Cooper about his "operation." Cooper's office did not immediately respond to a voicemail message from Raw Story.
Phone calls from Raw Story for this story to officials in Lake Lure and Rutherford County, which surrounds the town, went unreturned.
Meyer’s history of extremism dates back to the Bundy Ranch standoff, when armed militants faced down the FBI and other federal agencies in 2014 during a dispute over rancher Cliven Bundy’s refusal to pay grazing fees. Meyer’s involvement in the Bundy Ranch standoff came to light later, when the Oregonian reported that he and a group of friends got into a brawl with other anti-government extremists during the standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, which Bundy and a group of armed supporters had occupied.
Meyer founded Veterans on Patrol in Arizona in 2015, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. Prior to presenting itself as a disaster response group in the aftermath of Helene, Veterans on Patrol has claimed its efforts were directed towards rescuing children from sex trafficking, addressing veteran suicide and dubious claims that the military is maliciously harming civilians. Meyer’s activities have frequently landed him in trouble with law enforcement.
Meyer was arrested twice in 2015 after emergency responders talked him down from a light pole in Surprise, Ariz. in 2015.
In 2018, was arrested by the police in Tucson, Ariz. for trespassing and an outstanding warrant for an assault charge, after occupying a tower on an industrial property. A press release from the Tucson Police Department claimed that Meyer “found an abandoned homeless encampment” on the property, “and fictitiously declared, without evidence or corroboration, that the area was the site of a sex-trafficking ring.”
The Tucson police said they received complaints from Tucson residents that Meyer and his followers had threatened and intimidated them, and Meyer made “multiple threatening and hostile remarks directed towards various elected and appointed officials” through social media.
In the summer of 2024, before Hurricane Helene, Veterans on Patrol was active in Spokane, Wash. In Telegram message from July 2, 2024, Veterans on Patrol announced to the police that it “would no longer be safe” for one of its officers “to work his beat.” The channel also posted the home addresses of city council members.
NOW READ: Fox News is the reason the race is close
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judd pop info ymail 10 24
Musk wears a black "Make America Great Again" ball cap while attending a campaign rally with former President Donald Trump on October 05, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
This week, we learned that Elon Musk has donated tens of millions of dollars to help former President Donald Trump return to the White House. But he's not stopping there. Yesterday, Musk announced that he is holding "a series of talks throughout Pennsylvania" over the next few days.
There is just one problem: Musk's events are likely illegal.
Musk, of course, has the right to hold an event explaining why he supports Trump. But these events, hosted by America PAC, a Super PAC founded by Musk, are not open to everyone. To attend, people must sign Musk's petition supporting free speech and the right to bear arms and have already voted in Pennsylvania.
twt]
The problem is not the petition, but the requirement to vote to attend Musk's event. Federal law prohibits making or offering to make "an expenditure to any person, either to vote or withhold his vote, or to vote for or against any candidate." Violators can be fined or face up to one year in prison.
The legal problems with Musk's events were first noted by UCLA law professor Rick Hansen, a well-known expert in election law. Hansen explained that to violate the federal law that prohibits vote buying, "it is not necessary to offer that a person vote for or against a particular candidate." Any financial inducement to vote or not vote is enough. In this case, Musk is offering something valuable — an invite to hear him speak — in exchange for voting. "Just like one cannot give out free ice cream or car washes or concert tickets," Hansen writes, "one cannot give out free admission to hear a speech by a tech entrepreneur."
Earlier this month, Musk offered $47 to anyone who could recruit a registered voter in seven swing states, including Pennsylvania, to sign his petition. He said his goal was to get one million signers. The goal was to collect valuable contact information and demographic data of potential voters. While such tactics might be distasteful, they are not illegal. In that case, the $47 was not provided in exchange for voting. Rather, the payment was in exchange for recruiting a petition signer. Musk's group will likely use the data collected to convince that petition signer to vote, but a vote is not required for the payment.
In the case of his talks in Pennsylvania, however, Musk crossed the legal line, only allowing people to access his talks if they have voted. While the law is clear, whether or not anyone will enforce it is far less certain. Musk is accustomed to doing what he wants and, with plenty of resources for skilled legal representation, cleaning up the mess later.
Little else is known about the details of Musk's tour of Pennsylvania. According to the America PAC website, Musk was scheduled to hold an event in Philadelphia on Wednesday and Thursday. But, as of this writing, the times and locations of the events have not been released.
Musk has secretly been spending millions on right-wing causes since 2022
While Musk has recently emerged as one of the most powerful forces for Trump in this election cycle, he has actually been giving huge sums to conservative causes since 2022, according to reporting from the Wall Street Journal.
In 2022, Musk funded an ad blitz attacking Democrats on the economy, immigration, and transgender healthcare. The ads were run by a group called Citizens for Sanity, which got over $50 million of Musk’s money from a dark-money group called Building America’s Future (BAF).
Before Musk donated to BAF, the group’s operations were much smaller. In 2020, when it was founded, BAF only raised $300,000. In 2021, it raised $11 million. After Musk became a donor in 2022, its contributions nearly quintupled, reaching over $53 million.
Because BAF does not have to disclose its donors, it is not clear whether Musk has continued to fund it. But the group’s operations have remained extensive. In 2024, BAF has donated at least $22.8 million to right-wing political action committees.
Two PACs, Duty to America PAC and Future Coalition PAC, have been entirely funded by BAF, getting $16 million and $3 million, respectively.
Future Coalition PAC has used the cash to finance a controversial ad strategy. It is targeting Muslim and Arab-American voters in Michigan with anti-semitic ads about Vice President Kamala Harris’s husband Doug Emhoff, who is Jewish, and Harris’s stance on Israel, portraying her as a staunch Israel supporter. Simultaneously, the PAC is also taking out ads targeting Jewish voters in Pennsylvania, attacking Harris for being anti-Israel.
Another PAC that BAF has funded this cycle is Stand for Us PAC, which received $3.8 million from BAF. Stand for Us PAC has spent exclusively on state and local races, including in Missouri and West Virginia.
Trump is set to appear at a community roundtable hosted by BAF in Oakland, Michigan on Friday.
Musk's $75 million Super PAC
Filings released Tuesday reveal that Musk has donated nearly $75 million to America PAC. Musk gave the PAC $14.95 million in July, $30 million in August, and $30 million in September. Musk was the PAC’s only disclosed donor from July to September. The donations came after Musk said in March that he would not be donating to a presidential campaign.
From July to September, the PAC spent approximately $72 million, higher than “any other pro-Trump super PAC focused on turning out voters.” The PAC focuses on canvassing voters to increase early and mail-in voting in swing states, despite the fact that Musk routinely spreads misinformation about early voting to his 200 million followers on X, including that mail-in ballots are “insane” and “too risky.” Trump has reportedly “largely outsourced his 2024 campaign’s get-out-the-vote operation” to America PAC, partially made possible by a March Federal Election Commission (FEC) advisory opinion that allows canvassing operations to coordinate their message directly with a campaign....
mma
08/23/24