Major Law Firms Try to Conceal Ties with the Mueller Investigation

Major American law firms are now under attack by President Trump for their involvement in investigating his actions during his first presidential term. Four major law firms removed their references in former special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation: Paul Weiss, WilmerHale, Davis Polk, and Cooley [1]. After Donald Trump was elected as the 47th President of the United States in November 2024, he constantly advocated for going after his legal foes and political opponents. To break down the Mueller Report, there were two versions. The first report claimed that Trump wanted to affiliate with the Russians to try to commit collusion during the 2016 United States Presidential election, but there was little to no evidence. In the second report, Mueller’s team found several occasions when President Trump committed obstruction of justice [2]. Both reports constantly highlighted how there were numerous ties between the Russian government and the Trump campaign team. However, there was a lot of controversy over how Mueller conducted his investigation of Donald Trump during his first term. 

Critics claim that Muller had a very soft tone calling out Trump’s crimes in his report. Muller’s team never interviewed Trump for the investigation, which was highly unusual. Trump and his followers thought the Mueller Report was confusing and that the report found “no collusion” between the Russians and Trump’s team during the 2016 Presidential Election. Trump tried to appeal to his followers on social media by claiming that the big media outlets were trying to attack his reputation and that they should stop listening to those major media outlets. President Trump also wanted to fire Robert Mueller, but he backed off when White House Counsel Don McGahn threatened to leave. Notably, McGhan had a toxic relationship with President Trump. With President Trump in office for his second term, it seems that many law firms and organizations are scared to highlight their accomplishments of previously attacking Trump’s past actions, as Trump wants to turn the tide and attack those who went after him in the past. Trump’s administration is also trying to threaten organizations by using tactics like withholding federal funding if the organization does not follow Trump’s agenda.  

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sent letters to 20 major law firms about their investigation for possible discrimination in their diversity programs on March 17, 2025 [3]. This type of behavior shouldn’t come to a surprise as the current Trump administration is critical of organizations for having Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) programs. For example, the Trump administration in March 2025 said they would cancel $175 million of federal funding for the University of Pennsylvania, citing their transgender policies for athletes [4]. After these types of prestigious universities learned of their federal funding being stripped away if they did not follow President Trump’s agenda, they decided to fold and follow Trump’s agenda. After Columbia learned that $400 million of federal funding would be withheld if they did not address antisemitism against the Jewish population on campus, they decided to modify some of their rules so that they can continue to receive federal funding. Columbia University agreed to put its Middle Eastern studies under new and heavy supervision and to modify their protests and discipline rules for their students. Additionally, Columbia University will redefine the term antisemitism and attempt to staff up their Institute for Israel and Jewish Program [5]. 

Furthermore, after citing claims that law firm Perkins Coie tried to steal the 2016 Presidential Election through the infamous Steele Dossier, President Trump signed an executive order that stripped away security clearances from the law firm [6]. Additionally, a federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from punishing the Jenner & Block law firm, after the firm claimed that the administration violated the First Amendment by infringing on freedom of speech, the Fifth Amendment by interfering with its ability to practice law, and the Sixth Amendment by compromising Attorney-Client privilege [7]. While President Trump may have started his term only a few months ago, he has hunted down law firms and political opponents that have hurt him. It can be concluded that the Trump administration is putting the United States court system to the test in order to determine whether the judges may side with Trump in his legal attacks against opponents. Every single ruling of these cases will decide how law firms or political opponents may survive in the future.

Sources:

1. Justin Henry, Big Law Firms Scrub Mueller Ties as Trump Targets Enemies, (March 21, 2025), https://news.bloomberglaw.com/business-and-practice/big-law-firms-scrub-mueller-references-as-trump-targets-enemies.
2. American Constitution Society, Key Findings of the Mueller Report, https://www.acslaw.org/projects/the-presidential-investigation-education-project/other-resources/key-findings-of-the-mueller-report/.
3. Letter from the Office of the Chair Andrea R. Lucas, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (March 17, 2025), https://www.eeoc.gov/sites/default/files/2025-03/Law_Firm_Letters_-_03.17.2025.pdf.
4. Alana Wise, Trump suspends $175 million in funding to University of Pennsylvania over trans athletes, (March 20, 2025), https://www.npr.org/2025/03/20/nx-s1-5333675/university-pennsylvania-upenn-trump-suspends-funding-trans-student-athletes.
5. Jake Offanhratz, Under threat from Trump, Columbia University agrees to policy changes, (March 21, 2025), https://apnews.com/article/columbia-university-funding-trump-fa70143c715df8fd4ef337c0e1ccf872.
6. The White House, Addressing Risks from Perkins Coie LLP, (March 6, 2025), https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/addressing-risks-from-perkins-coie-llp/.
7. Jenner & Block LLP v. U.S., Case 1:25-cv-00916, (2025).