Since the November 3 election, Democrats have been conducting a concerted campaign to doxx, harass and intimidate lawyers who work with President Donald Trump’s campaign or other Republicans on election integrity.
In total, 7 lawyers in five separate firms have successfully withdrawn as legal counsel from contentious 2020 election cases.
- November 8th: Snell & Wilmer partners Brett Johnson and Eric Spencer
- November 12th: Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP’s Ronald Hicks and Carolyn McGee
- November 16th: Linda Kerns, John Scott and Douglas Bryan Hughes
Linda Kerns’ withdrawal came after a barrage of death threats put her under protection by U.S. Marshals.
One of the abusive calls Kerns received was from a lawyer at Kirkland & Ellis, the firm representing the opposing side. The judge in the case declined to sanction Kirkland & Ellis but admitted the call was “really bad form”.
On December 20th, OANN reporter Jack Posobiec broke the story that Kirkland & Ellis also filed to withdraw.
BREAKING: Kirkland & Ellis withdraws from representing Pennsylvania Secretary of State in Trump campaign case
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) November 20, 2020
The list above includes just the official Trump campaign legal representatives in court cases, not the legion of lawyers working in the background to support the operation.
Politico reported in September that Republicans had signed on “thousands” of lawyers across the country as well as three major law firms: Consovoy McCarthy; Jones Day; and King and Spalding. It is unclear how many of the original team are still involved or how many have joined since.
Jones Day has received incredible harassment from Democrats, despite the fact that they’re not even representing the Trump campaign in any litigation. Democrats also harassed several Jones Day clients demanding that they sever their relationship, including Walmart, JP Morgan Chase and McDonald’s.
In response to the harassment campaign, Jones Day released a statement stating that they are not representing the Trump campaign and are only representing the Pennsylvania GOP in a pre-existing case. Jones Day has thus far refused to withdraw from that case.
Jones Day is not representing President Trump, his campaign, or any affiliated party in any litigation alleging voter fraud. Jones Day also is not representing any entity in any litigation challenging or contesting the results of the 2020 general election. Media reports to the contrary are false.
Jones Day is representing the Pennsylvania GOP in pending litigation brought by private parties in April 2020 and the Pennsylvania Democratic Party in August 2020. In that litigation, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued an order extending the statutory deadline to return mail-in ballots established by the Pennsylvania General Assembly.
The charge to deny Team Trump and Republicans access to effective counsel is being led by NeverTrumper Republicans at the Lincoln Project and Democrat mega-lawyer Marc Elias.
The Lincoln Project pledged to spend $500,000 on the campaign to “target” lawyers working on Trump election cases.
Defend your democracy:
1. Created a LinkedIn account.
2. Message someone who works at @JonesDay or @PorterWright.
3. Ask them how they can work for an organization trying to overturn the will of the American people. https://t.co/Q3NR5xM4tjhttps://t.co/65DOcAUHYb— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) November 10, 2020
It’s worth noting that Elias was the go-between for the 2016 Clinton campaign who oversaw the Fusion GPS opposition research operation which created the debunked Christopher Steele dossier. The dossier alleged widespread cooperation between the Trump campaign and Russia, but was thoroughly debunked after a 4-year and $40 million federal investigation.
The arrangement where Elias oversaw opposition research allowed the Clinton campaign to funnel millions of dollars to Steele – a foreign spy – and then list it as “legal services” on campaign finance reports. It also allowed Clinton staffers to falsely deny for a over a year that they had any hand in the dossier’s creation.
Now is a good time to remind everyone that @marceelias laundered $ for the Clinton campaign to give to FusionGPS to spread disinformation through the Steele dossier. https://t.co/9Oc8DcXwS0
— Robert Barnes (@barnes_law) November 22, 2020
As National File previously reported, House Democrat Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ) filed frivolous Bar Association complaints against Trump Campaign election lawyers and Michigan’s Attorney General is seeking criminal conspiracy charges against Republican lawmakers who even discuss election integrity with the Trump campaign.
The intimidation campaign, which appears to be fairly popular with the nation’s legal elite, is prompting outcry from civil libertarians.
When such actions were taken against lawyers representing civil rights groups and others in the 1960s, it was correctly denounced as an outrageous abuse of our legal system. Now it has become a campaign supported by politicians, lawyers, and the media. https://t.co/kX8J27HZ4g
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) November 23, 2020
That includes left-wing attorney Jonathan Turley, who wrote a blistering column for The Hill condemning the strategy and calling out the Washington Post’s Randall Eliason for his article “Yes, going after Trump’s law firms is fair game“.
