Top House and Senate Democrats are investigating whether law firms that cut deals with President Trump earlier this year — including Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison — are breaking the law by doing free legal work for his administration, according to letters sent to the firms on Wednesday.
The letters were sent a month after The New York Times reported that two firms — Paul Weiss, and Kirkland and Ellis — had started free legal work for the Commerce Department. The firms had both struck agreements with Mr. Trump in which they committed to doing pro bono legal work for causes Mr. Trump has championed.
The top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, signed the letters along with Senators Adam Schiff of California and the ranking member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut.
The letters said that the work the firms were doing for the Commerce Department suggested “that the administration’s coercion of your law firm may be ongoing and escalating.”
The letter asked the firms to respond to a series of questions, including giving a description of the work they are doing for the department and the pro bono work they are doing as part of the deals they cut with Mr. Trump. But because the Democrats are in the minority in both houses, and do not have subpoena power, they cannot force the firms to respond.
The firms and a spokesman for the Commerce Department did not respond to requests for comment.
The firms’ decision to do free legal work for the administration is a particularly dramatic turn for Paul Weiss, which has a long history of fund-raising for Democrats and left-leaning causes. During Mr. Trump’s first term, the firm prided itself on standing up to him in court.
The top Democrats said in the letters to the firms that “as you are certainly aware, providing legal services to the Commerce Department without compensation may violate the law.” The letters cited the Antideficiency Act, which “prohibits the government from accepting voluntary services and has limited exceptions in order to ensure the government is not on the hook for financial obligations Congress has not explicitly appropriated.”
“While it certainly would not be surprising for the Trump administration to disregard the law regarding congressional appropriations, it would be quite troubling if Paul Weiss were a willing accomplice in such an endeavor,” one of the letters said.
The Times also reported last month that the firm Skadden Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom had been connected to the Commerce Department by Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer, Boris Epshteyn. Mr. Epshteyn does not hold a government position but played a direct role in brokering the deals between Mr. Trump and the law firms. The Democratic lawmakers also sent a letter to Skadden on Wednesday.
Michael S. Schmidt is an investigative reporter for The Times covering Washington. His work focuses on tracking and explaining high-profile federal investigations.
Maggie Haberman is a White House correspondent for The Times, reporting on President Trump.
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