Courtesy of Pam Martens
Brad Karp, Chairman of Paul Weiss
After successfully warding off barbarians outside the gates of the local election offices during the count of mail-in ballots, President-elect Joe Biden now has a new army of barbarians to deal with. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, using data collected by the Federal Election Commission, the industry category called “Finance, Insurance & Real Estate” donated a stunning $201,675,240 to Biden’s campaign and PACs supporting him. Add to that the category of “Lawyers and Lobbyists,” which donated $52,378,087, and you’re looking at a cool quarter of a billion dollars.
The bulk of the $52 million that came from “Lawyers and Lobbyists” was donated by the lawyers and partners of the big law firms that represent the biggest Wall Street banks and securities firms. Big donors to Biden and the Democratic Party in the 2019/2020 cycle hail from such law firms as Kirkland & Ellis; Paul Weiss; Akin Gump; Sullivan & Cromwell; Covington & Burling; and Sidley Austin, to name just a few.
The current head of the U.S. Department of Justice, William Barr, hails from Kirkland & Ellis, as does Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen. The former head of the criminal division of the Justice Department, Brian Benczkowski, who stepped down in July, also came from Kirkland & Ellis.
Covington & Burling similarly staffed up President Barack Obama’s Justice Department with Eric Holder as Attorney General and Lanny Breuer as head of the criminal division. Covington & Burling is also the law firm that fronted for Big Tobacco’s crimes against the American people for four decades. (See our 2012 article, Was the U.S. Justice Department Sold to the Highest Bidder.)
The current Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Jay Clayton, was a former law partner at Sullivan & Cromwell. Clayton represented 8 of the 10 largest Wall Street banks in the three years prior to landing the top post at the SEC in the Trump administration.
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