Kirkland Pressed by Democrats on Epshteyn’s Role in Trump Deal

Kirkland & Ellis is facing new questions about its deal with President Donald Trump, including the part that Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn played in landing the agreement.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and Sens. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) on Monday sent a letter to the law firm, requesting the information. They said Kirkland previously admitted to providing free legal services to federal agencies under the terms of its April deal with Trump, which reportedly involved Epshteyn, but declined to provide any details.

“Kirkland concedes providing free legal work directly after being threatened by the Trump Administration with a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) investigation and the prospect of financial- and access-related penalties that were previously imposed on other law firms,” the lawmakers wrote.

A representative for Kirkland did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Epshteyn declined to comment.

The trio asked the firm turn over “all records related to your agreement with the Trump administration” as well as “all communications, meeting records, or documents relating to any negotiations with Mr. Epshteyn.”

Kirkland is one of nine large firms that pledged nearly $1 billion in free legal services on causes shared with President Donald Trump’s administration in a series of agreements last year. The firms reached the deals to avoid executive orders like those Trump issued against other law firms and resolve federal investigations into some of their diversity recruiting practices.

Epshteyn, a personal lawyer for President Trump, was reportedly involved in the deal negotiations between Kirkland and other firms. Kirkland, the world’s largest law firm by revenue, worked on new US trade deals with Japan and Korea after being connected with administration officials by Epshteyn, according to a New York Times report.

“The involvement of Mr. Boris Epshteyn, a former Trump Administration official, legal fixer, and a Trump co-conspirator to overturn the 2020 presidential election, raises yet further concerns about this arrangement,” the lawmakers wrote. “Epshteyn has been dogged by reports that he solicited illegal pay-to-play schemes in exchange for securing political appointments in the Trump Administration.”

Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, and Blumenthal have slammed the “shakedown” deals between Trump and the law firms. They’ve sent several letters to the firms inquiring about details of the deals and work the firms have done for the administration. In September the trio of lawmakers sent letters to three firms—Paul Weiss, Kirkland, and Skadden—requesting information about their lawyers’ work for the Commerce Department.

Raskin and Blumenthal also accusedthe Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s leader of using her position to facilitate deals between Big Law firms and Trump. The EEOC dropped its investigation into the law firms in February.