This law firm has deep ties to Trump. Now a partner is his pick for a top job.

Washington — It was not yet 4 o'clock successful the greeting successful Washington connected Wednesday erstwhile President Trump, an water distant astatine the G7 acme successful France, issued a request for Republican senators: James "Jamie" McDonald, his prime for U.S. lawyer for the Southern District of New York, "must beryllium confirmed" immediately.

"I whitethorn not beryllium capable to get the bonzer Sullivan & Cromwell Partner, Jamie, approved, and I don't privation to instrumentality Jay Clayton distant from the large occupation helium is doing until Jamie is successful place," the president said connected his Truth Social platform.

McDonald is Mr. Trump's prime to helm 1 of the nation's astir prestigious national prosecutors' offices — known for its independency and pugnacious enforcement of Wall Street malfeasance and different white-collar crimes. And helium would win Jay Clayton, who has been tapped by the president to go the adjacent manager of nationalist intelligence. 

Though little-known extracurricular the powerfulness corridors of Washington and Manhattan, McDonald has been a notable unit during Mr. Trump's 2nd term. At Sullivan & Cromwell, 1 of the world's largest instrumentality firms, wherever Clayton besides erstwhile worked arsenic a partner, McDonald has played a cardinal relation successful persuading the Justice Department to driblet oregon settee a drawstring of high-profile cases for the firm's firm clients, according to tribunal records and sources acquainted with the matter.

Now, questions astir his quality to support prosecutorial independency could play a cardinal relation successful immoderate confirmation review, Democratic Senate sources told CBS News, arsenic Mr. Trump has sought to expedite his nomination.

Sullivan & Cromwell, wherever McDonald has worked since 2021, has emerged arsenic a steadfast known for its adjacent relationships with the White House during Mr. Trump's 2nd term.

Law firms person agelong sought to marque usage of adjacent relationships astatine the Justice Department to assistance their clients, which galore lawyers see zealous advocacy. But determination are increasing questions among elder lawyers astatine different large instrumentality firms and vocation prosecutors astir whether Sullivan & Cromwell's clients "are getting favorable attraction astatine the Justice Department — not due to the fact that the facts of the instrumentality compel it," but due to the fact that immoderate of the firm's elder partners are aligned with the president, arsenic 1 erstwhile Justice Department authoritative who worked successful a Democratic medication enactment it. 

"Sullivan & Cromwell understands the D.C. crippled and knows that staying adjacent to the president is the champion mode to navigate the existent environment," different erstwhile Justice Department authoritative who worked successful the 2nd Trump medication told CBS News.

On Saturday, the president said successful a societal media station that helium is assured McDonald — a erstwhile national authoritative and regulator — "will present beardown results for our Country." 

The aboriginal of some Clayton and McDonald's nominations is successful flux aft the president directed Clayton not to appear for a planned confirmation proceeding connected Wednesday, upending Senate Republicans' plans to rapidly instal Clayton and resoluteness a standoff with Democrats.

Sullivan & Cromwell has much than a twelve offices crossed the globe and is headquartered successful Manhattan. Its managing partner, Robert Giuffra, was astatine 1 constituent considered a contender to beryllium Mr. Trump's lawyer wide during his 2nd term, sources acquainted with the modulation said. 

"Sullivan & Cromwell is 1 of the large institutions successful our city," John Catsimatidis, a Manhattan billionaire who is friends with Mr. Trump, told CBS News. 

Both McDonald and Giuffra represented Mr. Trump successful past backstage matters. The steadfast is representing the president successful his entreaty of his transgression condemnation for hiding a $130,000 payment to big movie prima Stormy Daniels, arsenic good arsenic Mr. Trump's entreaty successful a civil fraud lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

And erstwhile Mr. Trump issued an enforcement bid against the almighty instrumentality steadfast Paul, Weiss that could person crippled its entree to the government, it was Giuffra who helped broker a deal betwixt a concern rival and the White House to driblet the directive successful speech for the steadfast pledging $40 cardinal successful pro bono services. He did truthful alongside Boris Epshteyn, Mr. Trump's idiosyncratic lawyer who has coordinated his ineligible defence strategy.

McDonald joined Sullivan & Cromwell aft serving arsenic adjunct U.S. lawyer for the Southern District of New York until 2017 and past arsenic manager of enforcement for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, an bureau that regulates commodity and derivatives markets and pursues civilian enforcement actions for violations. 

Chris Giancarlo, who headed the CFTC during Mr. Trump's archetypal term, said helium hired McDonald due to the fact that helium wanted idiosyncratic who would beryllium pugnacious connected enforcement. Giancarlo said helium liked McDonald's inheritance arsenic a authoritative who pursued nationalist corruption and organized transgression cases.

"He is strong, but fair," Giancarlo told CBS News. "He doesn't deterioration authorities connected his sleeve. To the grade radical are acrophobic astir governmental motivations, determination is nary of that with Jamie."

The Adani case

More recently, Giuffra and McDonald person recovered bonzer occurrence brokering different deals betwixt their clients who are facing investigations by instrumentality enforcement arms of the administration.

In May, the Justice Department's antithetic determination to inquire a justice to disregard transgression fraud and overseas bribery charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and different defendants came aft negotiations led by Sullivan & Cromwell. 

The Adani lawsuit was slated to proceed, aft it survived a reappraisal ordered by Mr. Trump into each pending overseas bribery matters to find whether they should beryllium dismissed, according to a idiosyncratic with nonstop cognition of the matter.

Before the question to disregard the case, elder Justice Department officials met with McDonald, Giuffra and Andrew DeFillipis of Sullivan & Cromwell, sources said.

In 1 specified gathering astatine the Justice Department, Giuffra made a presumption that disputed grounds of the alleged bribery scheme, according to sources acquainted with the substance and records reviewed by CBS News. One descent touted however 1 of Adani's companies is "powering India's progress," and different descent said the Trump medication "would not person brought the case."

If prosecutors were to driblet the charges, Giuffra besides said astatine the meeting, Adani would beryllium consenting to put $10 cardinal successful the American economy, sources said. The gathering and treatment astir the concern were reported earlier by The New York Times.

Adani has since agreed to pay $18 cardinal to settee a parallel civilian fraud lawsuit brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission. And successful May, the Treasury Department announced that it had reached a $275 cardinal colony with an Adani Group subsidiary for evident violations of U.S. sanctions against Iran. The subsidiary, Adani Enterprises, purchased shipments of liquified petroleum state sourced from Iran, the U.S. authorities said.

Both SEC and Treasury Department officials were besides progressive successful meetings with the attorneys from Sullivan & Cromwell, according to sources with nonstop cognition of the matter. 

CBS News has reached retired for remark to the SEC and Treasury Department.

In May, conscionable days aft the authorities filed the question to disregard the Justice Department's lawsuit against Adani, 2 prosecutors assigned to the lawsuit abruptly withdrew from it, according to tribunal records. The question did not see signatures from vocation prosecutors who brought the case, a departure from communal signifier that signaled dissent.

Democrats person since launched an probe into the Justice Department's determination to driblet the Adani case. In a June 11 missive to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut questioned what they called the "transactional nature" of the determination to disregard the case. The lawmakers suggested that Adani's connection to put $10 cardinal successful U.S. vigor and infrastructure projects smacked of a "quid pro quo." 

"I person superior concerns astir a Trump loyalist who played a cardinal relation successful the Adani dismissal serving successful a captious U.S. Attorney role," Warren told CBS News.

In a connection shared with CBS News, a spokesperson for Sullivan & Cromwell said that Giuffra, McDonald and each partners astatine the steadfast "have devoted their careers to and built their reputations connected being exceptionally effectual advocates for our clients, without respect to the medication successful Washington."

"Sullivan & Cromwell is hired to grip the astir important and challenging cases due to the fact that we person the finest lawyers successful the profession, and to suggest that the occurrence of our steadfast and our partners is the effect of thing different than the astir rigorous ineligible statement and factual investigation and our judgement and acquisition is simply wrong," the connection added.

A Justice Department authoritative said that the section "often meets with extracurricular counsel to sermon pending cases and imaginable resolutions to guarantee the champion imaginable result for the American people" and that the determination to disregard the lawsuit came aft galore months of treatment with the company's lawyers and an interior review.

The Southern Coal case

McDonald was besides 1 of the lawyers progressive successful convincing the Justice Department to driblet a non-public transgression probe into Southern Coal, a Roanoke-based ember mining institution tally by the lad of Republican Sen. Jim Justice of West Virginia, sources acquainted with the substance told CBS News. 

The probe was sparked by concerns that Southern Coal was doctoring h2o investigating reports required nether a longstanding consent decree with the Justice Department and respective states, 1 of the sources said. ProPublica reported earlier connected the closure of the case, but McDonald's relation has not been antecedently reported.

Following meetings betwixt Justice Department officials successful the lawman lawyer general's bureau and lawyers for Southern Coal, including McDonald, the Justice Department instructed prosecutors to adjacent the investigation, 1 of the sources said.

The probe was inactive successful its aboriginal stages erstwhile it was closed, the root said. A spokesperson for the Justice family's ineligible squad declined to comment.

In a connection to ProPublica earlier this month, Steven Ruby, an lawyer for the Justice companies, said, "Ultimately the uncovering of the enquiry by the authorities was that determination wasn't immoderate grounds to prosecute transgression charges," adding, "There's ne'er been immoderate intentional wrongdoing by the companies."

Sullivan & Cromwell declined to sermon the Southern Coal lawsuit oregon McDonald's involvement. A Justice Department authoritative said the defence attorneys followed a communal signifier by challenging the case.

"The bottommost enactment is that this was a politically motivated prosecution for a lawsuit that tin and should beryllium resolved civilly," the Justice Department authoritative told CBS News.

The Live Nation case

During his clip astatine Sullivan & Cromwell, McDonald besides represented euphony performance promoter Live Nation arsenic it settled an antitrust lawsuit involving Ticketmaster, tribunal records show.

The Live Nation case, filed successful 2024 during the Biden administration, had bipartisan enactment among Republican and Democratic authorities attorneys general. Attorneys astatine the Justice Department who worked connected the Live Nation lawsuit and attorneys for the states were amazed erstwhile they were notified earlier this twelvemonth by Live Nation that colony discussions would instrumentality place, according to sources acquainted with the settlement.

"It was a precise unusual situation," said a erstwhile Justice Department attorney. "We were told to support the full colony discussions precise choky and precise adjacent to the vest."

Negotiations for the colony betwixt the authorities and Sullivan & Cromwell took spot astatine the instrumentality firm's offices successful Manhattan, handled by Justice Department officials who did not enactment connected the proceedings team. State attorneys wide were near retired of the gathering and remained successful the lobby for respective hours, sources said. 

"We had radical who were determination and acceptable to articulation the speech and were ne'er included," said Eleanor Blume, a elder ineligible advisor to California Attorney General Rob Bonta.

Blume added that the case's handling "points to this being an highly governmental decision." 

A Justice Department authoritative said that the colony "exceeded the outcomes of erstwhile administrations" and that the department's "overriding involvement was providing contiguous alleviation for consumers alternatively than hazard an adverse determination oregon years of continued appellate litigation."

All but a tiny fistful of states decided to cull the colony betwixt the Justice Department and Live Nation, and continued to effort the case. They prevailed, with a national assemblage uncovering successful April that Live Nation was liable for operating an amerciable monopoly.