60 Minutes examined Donald Trump’s revenge tour against Big Law in a scathing episode on Sunday, essentially thumbing its nose at the president’s many complaints about the show and its parent company.
The newsmagazine spoke with lawyers and firms who were targeted by Trump through sweeping executive orders aimed at cutting them off from the federal government—even though it was “nearly impossible to get anyone on camera” for the story, host Scott Pelley admitted.
Marc Elias, a longtime Trump opponent name-dropped in a March executive order, slammed the moves as an assault on the entire legal profession.
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“Donald Trump is the walking embodiment of everything that is wrong with the American political system,” Elias said. “And so, when Donald Trump says that I am unethical or that I am undermining his vision of America, I say, ‘Boy, I must be doin’ something right.’”
Elias likened Trump’s executive orders to a mob boss intimidating people in a neighborhood.
“The fact is that these law firms are being told, ‘If you don’t play ball with us, maybe somethin’ really bad will happen to you.’”
Elias first crossed Trump in 2016 when he served as the top lawyer for Hillary Clinton’s campaign, then again in 2020 when he defeated Trump’s efforts to contest the election results in court.
Perkins Coie, Elias’ former firm, was among those that have been accused by Trump of “unlawful or unsavory practices” since February for their connections to investigations or cases related to Trump or his allies.
A federal judge permanently blocked the executive order against Perkins Coie last week, calling it “unconstitutional retaliation.”
Trump’s executive orders against law firms follow a pattern, including revoking a law firm’s security clearances to access federal buildings and ordering the termination of any contracts the government has with them.
The orders have triggered a crisis in the legal profession as some law firms sue the Trump administration and others stave off punishment by agreeing to do pro bono work for the administration.
Nine major firms have so far gone to the White House to strike a deal with Trump, altogether agreeing to give nearly $1 billion in legal services to causes supported by the president.
One of them was Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, the world’s fifth-largest law firm, which agreed in March to do $100 million worth of pro bono work for the Trump administration.
A lawyer named Brenna Frey left the firm in protest.
“The law firm is tacitly saying, we’ll listen to the administration, we won’t fight in court,” she told 60 Minutes. “If we won’t fight over this, what else won’t we fight over in court against the federal government?”
John Keker, a high-profile attorney in San Francisco, suggested that Trump was running a protection racket.
“I’m suggesting that he is violating the rule that says, ‘You can’t offer a thing of value in return for an official act.’ That happens to be the definition of bribery,” he said. “Anybody else who came to Washington and said, ‘I will give you $100 million of free legal services if you do this for me,’ would be convicted of a bribe.”
Not even 60 Minutes itself has been spared from Trump’s retribution campaign. Paramount, CBS’ parent company, is itself embroiled in a legal battle with the government.
The president regularly flames 60 Minutes in Truth Social posts, reportedly prompting Paramount boss Shari Redstone to ask the show to hold off on stories critical of Trump until a crucial corporate merger is approved.
At the end of last week’s episode, 60 Minutes scorched its owners for bending to Trump, which pushed the show’s longtime chief Bill Owens to depart.
“Our parent company, Paramount, is trying to complete a merger. The Trump administration must approve it. Paramount began to supervise our content in new ways,” Pelley said. “Bill felt he lost the independence that honest journalism requires… No one here is happy about it, but in resigning, Bill proved one thing—he was the right person to lead 60 Minutes all along.”
