Becca Balint Warns Trump Is Pushing To ‘Discredit An Entire System’ By Attacking Law Firms

2 days ago

During Monday’s Congressional Democrats’s briefing, Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT) discussed President Trump's push against the judicial system and law firms.

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Transcript

00:00And the distinguished lady from Vermont, Ms. Ballant, is recognized for her questioning.

00:04Thank you to the chairs. First of all, I really want to acknowledge at the top

00:08the courage that it took for each of you to come here today.

00:12It shows an incredible amount of fortitude.

00:16These are incredibly scary times, and

00:18it's not easy to stand up and speak out against authoritarians.

00:25It's not easy to stand up and speak against the president.

00:28So all you have to do is look at our Republican colleagues, both in the House and the Senate,

00:34who are remaining silent. So the fact that you're willing to be here

00:37to show your face, to speak up for what's right, it matters.

00:42And I just, I have to tell you that you, this is a critical moment right now,

00:48and you are doing the right thing, even though it's frightening.

00:52Because you're giving all of us just a little bit of hope in these incredibly dark times.

00:57Hope that we're going to be able to turn the tide on this.

01:00Hope that more people will see you and stand up to the corruption and the cronyism.

01:07And just a little bit of hope that we'll remember that who we are as a people,

01:12that we're beholden to the rule of law, and as my colleagues have said,

01:16that we are not beholden to a king or a dictator.

01:18So know that you are doing the right thing, even though it feels terrifying.

01:26Authoritarians like Trump have nothing but contempt for the democratic process and for due process.

01:34They mock the principle of accountability because they have none.

01:37They portray themselves as victims of so-called lawfare, so they can discredit an entire system.

01:46That's what this is about.

01:47This is about discrediting the system, so we can't believe in lawyers.

01:52We can't believe in institutions.

01:55And that, that's terrifying.

01:58That is convincing all of us that the rot goes so deeply that the foundation of our very democracy can't be trusted.

02:08Ms. Cohen, in your resignation letter, which I have to say was, was such a shining light,

02:15you talk about fear and powerlessness that motivated some of these law firms in the country to cave.

02:21And that's what they did.

02:22They caved.

02:23They are bootlicking.

02:25They are bending a knee.

02:26Make no mistake.

02:27That's what's going on here.

02:28How is it that some of the most prestigious and powerful law firms in this country feel that they have to act in this way?

02:37I wish I had a good answer for you, but when I read things like Brad Karp saying that it was an existential crisis

02:43for a firm whose profit per equity partner was over $7 million last year, I don't know what to tell you.

02:50I apologize.

02:51That's right.

02:53That's exactly right.

02:54It's not an existential crisis where they're going to lose some money.

02:58We're talking about the rule of law.

03:02It's disgusting.

03:03And the courage that you have to be here when so many of your senior colleagues say nothing and grovel to a would-be king,

03:19speaks volumes about your integrity.

03:24We're in strange times.

03:27There were protests across the nation.

03:31This weekend, the chief justice of the Vermont State Supreme Court, who, trust me, does not usually comment on political matters,

03:40He said, quote, no prior administration has taken such concerted action against the bar, an effort to erode an institutional pillar designed to check abuse of power.

03:54When the chief justice is finding his voice and speaking publicly, you would think that some law firms could do the same when it's just about the almighty dollar.