Trump’s Pick for Asia Post Made $5.4 Million as S&C Partner (1)

Michael DeSombre, a Sullivan & Cromwell partner tapped for a State Department role, disclosed he earned $5.4 million from his partnership share at the prestigious law firm that’s developed close ties to the Trump administration.

President Donald Trump in March nominated DeSombre for US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific. The deals lawyer and longtime Republican donor served as ambassador to Thailand during Trump’s first term before returning to Sullivan & Cromwell, where he works out of its Silicon Valley and Hong Kong offices.

Sullivan & Cromwell has strengthened its connection to Trump in the president’s return to the White House. Bob Giuffra is representing Trump in an appeal of his felony conviction in a New York hush money case, and reportedly was involved in brokering a deal between the president and Paul Weiss to resolve an executive order against the law firm.

DeSombre’s clients have included a range of large US and Asia-based clients, according to a government ethics disclosure. He has represented Spirit Aerosystems Holdings, Inc., AB Inbev, Goldman Sachs, and Advanced Micro Devices, among other US companies. His Asia-based clients include Foxconn Interconnect Technology, Beijing-based coffee conglomerate Dazheng Group, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd., and Hong Kong-based private equity firm Hillhouse Investment Management Ltd.

DeSombre contributed at least $185,000 in the last election cycle to a litany of Republican candidates, the Republican National Committee, Trump’s presidential campaign, and Save America, a leadership political action committee affiliated with Trump that was frequently used to pay his legal fees, according to data from Open Secrets. He also gave $100,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund, according to data from the Federal Election Commission.

DeSombre as a college student got advice on how to become an ambassador from James Rosenthal, who served as an ambassador under President Ronald Reagan, DeSombre said in a podcast last year.

“He said, ‘Nowadays, all the good ambassadorships are given to political appointees. You should go out, earn a lot of money, get involved politically and then become an ambassador,” DeSombre said. “That is actually how it sort of worked out.”

DeSombre said he became a leader in 2013 of the group Republicans Overseas, which he described as the overseas arm of the Republican National Committee. He became close with Reince Priebus, the former RNC chair and Trump’s first chief of staff, who put his name up for consideration for political appointments in Trump’s first administration.

Firm leader Giuffra has called his work on Trump’s appeal in the hush money case “important for the rule of law,” arguing that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg “targeted” the president. Giuffra became involved in the Paul Weiss deal—the first of several in which nine firms have committed nearly $1 billion in free legal services on Trump-aligned causes—after he “received an outreach” on behalf of the firm, according to a letter from Sullivan & Cromwell responding to an inquiry from lawmakers for information on the agreement.