Loose Lips Sink Ships 👄

Change the facts, change the outcome.

For Howell, a critical element in her assessment of whether the administration’s actions were punitive and retaliatory was the fact that those who entered into agreements with the administration were spared similar harms, with the administration either refraining from issuing orders punishing those firms or even withdrawing orders previously issued.

It wasn’t just the deals that caught the judge’s eye, but the president and his staff’s bragging about the agreements. For Howell, this made it evident that the punishment was the very point of the White House’s actions in the first place.

In addition to noting the White House’s promotion of the agreements with these other firms, Howell also referenced the president’s own statements on the issue. She quoted, for example, his remarks at an event in early April:

Have you noticed that lots of law firms have been signing up with Trump? $100 million, another $100 million, for damages that they’ve done. But they give you $100 million and then they announce, ‘We have done nothing wrong.’ And I agree, they’ve done nothing wrong. But what the hell, they’ve given me a lot of money considering they’ve done nothing wrong.

Powell also cited Trump and adviser Stephen Miller’s remarks during the signing of an order targeting the law firm Susman Godfrey. At the event, Trump asked Miller to share the value of free legal work secured from the deals with other law firms. “The numbers are adding up. We’re going to be close to a billion soon,” Miller replied. “As to the Susman EO he had just signed,” Howell wrote, “President Trump then said, ‘this one, we’re just starting the process with this one.’”

Although the “precise terms of these deals” are “somewhat fuzzy,” Howell wrote, “what is clear is that the Trump White House has publicly touted the negotiated deals reached with various law firms, and equally clear is that those deal-making firms have been spared, or had revoked, an Executive Order targeting them.” The government’s promotion of those deals provided Howell with further evidence that President Trump was clearly singling out firms for retribution based on whether they entered agreements with the administration or not.

Perhaps Judge Howell’s decision would have been the same had Trump not trumpeted certain firms bending the knee to him. But this president and this administration could not help themselves. They just had to brag — and Howell used their own words against them.

You need a record for a ruling. Trump handed the court one on a silver platter.