I have been fighting Donald Trump nonstop for a decade. I officially became general counsel to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign on April 12, 2015. A month later, on June 16, Trump announced his campaign.
People often forget that in 2016, Trump and his campaign were fixated on undermining free and fair elections. I was equally determined to protect them. That year, I led litigation efforts in several battleground states aimed at defending voting rights. Our efforts were in vain. While we won some of the lawsuits, we lost the election.
Even after he won the 2016 election, Trump’s disdain for democracy remained central to his identity. Donald Trump became the 45th President as an avowed election critic, vote suppressor and someone who bore a personal grudge against me.
The basic outlines of his grievances against me are well known. He hates me for working for Hillary Clinton. He despises me for humiliating him in court after the 2020 election. He is livid that I call out his lies, refuse to back down and continue to defeat him and the GOP in court.
I have endured his scurrilous attacks for years. He has sued me for racketeering — and lost. He has unleashed his right-wing army of online trolls. Since his reelection, he has threatened me, defamed me and singled me out by name in two executive orders.
The latest development in this saga took place late on Friday, when a federal judge permanently blocked Trump’s executive order seeking to punish my former law firm for my work while I was a partner there. As the court dryly explained:
Perkins Coie’s representation of President Trump’s political opponent in the 2016 presidential campaign and representation of other clients in connection with election litigation has drawn President Trump’s attention and ire, as reflected in his public statements and his filing of a lawsuit against the Firm.
The judge offered several examples of those statements. For instance, the court noted that in March 2024, Trump posted an article on his social media platform entitled “Marc Elias Is Scared…And He Should Be.”
More ominously, the court noted that Trump twice, in the fall of 2024, posted “his intent, if elected, to investigate and prosecute ‘Lawyers’ and others he perceived to be helping political opponents and ‘involved’ in what he perceived to be ‘unscrupulous behavior.’”
Which brings me to my appearance Sunday night on 60 Minutes.
Several weeks ago, a producer from the broadcast reached out to say they were working on a story about Trump’s targeting of law firms. I had already written about the topic, expressing my outrage at Trump’s actions and my deep disappointment with the legal industry’s failure to unite behind the targeted firms.
After I shared my views, the producer asked if I’d be willing to discuss the topic on camera. I was unsure. I had previously appeared in a 60 Minutes episode in 2020 about GOP plans to attack voting rights, so I knew the drill — lots of time talking, for a clip or two in the final cut.
Besides, I felt like a bit player in this instance. Yes, I had been targeted by Trump, but that was old news. I am no longer in Big Law, and my current firm is well known for representing Democrats, progressives and pro-voting organizations.
However, I quickly learned that few other lawyers — particularly partners at large law firms — were willing to speak on television. The same fear that had prevented Big Law firms from standing up to Trump was now making their partners unwilling to speak out publicly. Even the targeted firms remained quiet.
From the opening words of Judge Beryl Howell’s opinion to the 60 Minutes closing credits, this has been an emotional weekend for me personally.
Shortly after the 2024 election, I took stock of my life. I was 55 years old and had been practicing law for more than 30 years. That may not seem old to some, but in political campaigns, it’s ancient. If I wanted to step back from the fight, now would be a good time.
In 2020, I created Democracy Docket to expose Trump’s lies about elections and democracy in court. Over the years, it had grown into a full-fledged media company. In 2024, I began writing more frequently and doing more on its YouTube channel. It, too, faced a crossroads.
If Kamala Harris had won, I might have scaled back. I could have continued practicing law and writing, without maintaining the same grueling schedule I’d kept for three decades. I had even planned to take time off to write a book.
But with Trump back in office, I decided all of that would have to wait. I promised myself that I would continue to fight Trump and his authoritarian vision for this country with everything I have.
So, I agreed to talk to 60 Minutes, and I promised myself I would not pull punches.
On a chilly April day, I sat down with CBS anchor Scott Pelley and answered his questions about Trump, Big Law and the threat that Trump poses to our legal system and democracy. Then I waited.
In the intervening weeks, a separate drama was playing out at 60 Minutes, involving a frivolous lawsuit by Trump and efforts by a Trump administration nominee to delay the sale of its parent company. I wasn’t sure what it meant for the episode — or my appearance in it.
Last night, I found out. When the program began at 7 p.m., I knew the episode would air. As the minutes ticked by, it became clear that 60 Minutes had pulled no punches. Through interviews with me and others, Pelley painted a damning picture of a president out for retribution and a legal industry too cowardly to stand up to him.
I am featured — along with others braver than I — including an associate who quit her job rather than be complicit in the deal her law firm had cut.
From the opening words of Judge Beryl Howell’s opinion — “No American President has ever before issued executive orders like the one at issue in this lawsuit” — to the 60 Minutes closing credits, this has been an emotional weekend for me personally.
I have no doubt that Trump’s hateful words are not behind me. I am certain he will escalate his campaign of political retribution. But, for my part, I will not stop fighting. I will never back down. And I will always speak out.
