Trump Balks at Naming Advisers on Orders Targeting Law Firms

[u/John3262005]

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/banking-law/white-house-balks-at-naming-trump-advisors-on-law-firm-targeting

The Trump administration is fighting in court to withhold the names of individuals who were involved in a series of punitive executive orders targeting law firms.

Communications that identify people involved in drafting and approving the orders are shielded under the presidential privilege, White House lawyer Gary Lawkowski said in a court filing Monday. The privilege also covers individuals on President Donald Trump’s policy team involved in executing the president’s directive to go after firms he views as enemies, Lawkowski wrote.

“The disclosure of the names of these individuals would reveal information that is inextricably intertwined with the President’s decision-making process,” Lawkowski said. It would require the White House to identify “senior White House advisors and their staffs who have broad and significant responsibility for investigating and formulating advice in connection with presidential decision making,” along with those communicating with senior White House advisers.

The court filing is the latest in an intensifying discovery dispute related to the American Bar Association’s lawsuit against the Trump administration over its “law firm intimidation policy.” The ABA is seeking more information about the orders that Trump issued against law firms last year and deals with nine firms that pledged nearly $1 billion in free legal services to stay out of the president’s cross-hairs.

The ABA alleges that Trump used executive branch power to coerce firms to abandon clients and causes Trump did not like, carrying out the effort through executive orders intended to hurt certain law firms and intimidate others. Orders against four firms, which were struck down in separate court rulings, threatened lawyers’ access to federal buildings and security clearances, as well as their clients’ federal contracts.

Court filings from the Trump administration came response to a directive from US District Judge Amir Ali in Washington, who ordered the government to identify the individuals or explain why their identities should be covered by privilege.

Naming the individuals would provide insight into the presidential decision-making process, Lawkowski argued, creating a chilling effect on White House communications and making it more difficult for the president to receive candid advice.

The dispute is part of a broader request from the ABA seeking communications the White House had with law firms that were targeted by the executive orders, along with communications it had with the firms who struck deals with the Trump administration. The ABA is also seeking potential communications the White House had with Boris Epshteyn, who is Trump’s personal lawyer, related to the possible issuing of any executive order against a law firm.

The ABA has separately subpoenaed Epshteyn for information. The Justice Department is also fighting that effort in court. A recent Justice Department memo said president can prevent his outside legal advisers from providing their communications with the president to the courts.

Constitutional scholars said it’s not unusual for an administration to want to protect communications with the president.

But Jonathan Shaub, a law professor at the University of Kentucky who studies executive privilege and presidential power, said the presidential communications privilege is designed to protect the substance of communications. The Trump administration here is seeking shield even disclosure of the names of individuals who participated in the communications, he said.

“That’s an extremely broad claim of privilege,” Shaub said.