Trump's personal law firm has a pipeline to top DOJ jobs

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... And Trump has rewarded its partners handsomely. Jay Clayton, who had a more than 20-year career at Sullivan & Cromwell, is Trump's nominee to be director of national intelligence. While Clayton awaits a confirmation hearing, he remains the Manhattan U.S. attorney, one of the most powerful prosecutorial roles in the country.

Trump nominated Matthew Schwartz, one of his lawyers at Sullivan & Cromwell, to be a judge on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. Schwartz's confirmation is pending.

And Trump has tapped James McDonald, another Sullivan & Cromwell partner on Trump's legal team, to replace Clayton as Manhattan U.S. attorney. McDonald is slated to join the office first as deputy U.S. attorney, where he is expected to assume day-to-day leadership while Clayton turns to confirmation matters.

The relationship stems from Trump's friendship with the firm's co-chair Robert Giuffra Jr. People familiar with the matter say he has encouraged the firm's alliance with Trump. Giuffra, who is also a member of the president's legal team, was among those considered by Trump for the job of attorney general after he was elected to a second term.

The firm's relationship is starkly different from the president's past experience with the white-shoe legal community.

When Trump first hired Todd Blanche to represent him in the Manhattan hush money case in 2023, Blanche was forced to resign from Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, the elite law firm where he had been a partner, telling colleagues he "obviously" couldn't take Trump as a client while remaining at the firm. ...

#1 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-07-12 12:21 PM | Reply

Where die obama and biden's DOJ positions get filled from???

#2 | Posted by MSgt at 2026-07-12 01:58 PM | Reply

@#2 ... Where die obama and biden's DOJ positions get filled from??? ...

President Barack Obama Announces Key DOJ Appointees (2009)
obamawhitehouse.archives.gov

... Today, President Barack Obama announced the following Department of Justice (DOJ) appointees: David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; Tony West, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Division; Lanny Breuer, Assistant Attorney General for Criminal; and Christine Varney, Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust. ...

David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security
Kris is Deputy General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Time Warner Inc., Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University, and a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. He is the author or co-author of several works on national security law, including the treatise, National Security Investigations and Prosecutions (West 2007). From 2000 to 2003, Kris was Associate Deputy Attorney General, where his unclassified responsibilities included supervising the government's use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), representing the Department of Justice at the National Security Council, briefing and testifying before Congress, and assisting the Attorney General in conducting oversight of the U.S. Intelligence Community. He joined the Department of Justice as a prosecutor in 1992 through its Honors Program, and received the Exceptional Service award from both Attorney General John Ashcroft and Attorney General Janet Reno.

Tony West, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Division
West is a litigation partner whose trial practice includes representing both individuals and companies in civil and criminal matters. A former federal prosecutor and California special assistant attorney general, West has been counsel in several high-profile litigation matters in both federal and state court. Prior to joining Morrison & Foerster, Mr. West served in both the U.S. Department of Justice and the California Department of Justice. West has served as lead trial counsel in a variety of jury trials. As an Assistant United States Attorney, he led a team of FBI and U.S. Customs agents in the investigation and successful prosecution of one of the nation's largest Internet child pornography/molestation crime rings. In 2006, Lawdragon chose Mr. West as one of its "New Stars" and The Daily Journal named him one of California's "Top 20 Lawyers Under 40" in 2004. A frequent public speaker and legal commentator, Mr. West has often appeared as a legal analyst for CNN-Headline News, ESPN, CBS-5, and other media networks on a variety of legal, political, and constitutional issues. ...

etc., etc. ...

#3 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-07-12 02:18 PM | Reply