Karp Out as Chief Over Epstein Emails
Paul Weiss leader Brad Karp is relinquishing his role as chairman, the firm said, after a trove of emails released by the Justice Department detailed the lawyer’s close connections to Jeffrey Epstein.
“Leading Paul Weiss for the past 18 years has been the honor of my professional life,” Karp said in a statement. “Recent reporting has created a distraction and has placed a focus on me that is not in the best interests of the firm.”
Karp will “continue to focus his full-time attention to client service at the firm,” the firm said.
The firm’s decision marks a dramatic fall from grace for the leader, less than a year after Karp landed a controversial deal with President Donald Trump, trading legal services for the rescission of an executive order against the firm.
The latest document release showed that Karp helped Epstein protect his plea deal on sex trafficking charges against legal attacks in the months before Epstein died in jail.
Scott Barshay, the well-known M&A dealmaker and chair of the firm’s corporate practice, will lead the firm effective immediately. Read More from Meghan Tribe.
More Coverage:
- ‘Call Brad Karp’: Epstein’s Fondness for Lawyer Ends in Downfall
- Epstein’s Personal Lawyer Indyke to Testify Before House Panel
- Trump Judicial Appointee Appears in Epstein Files Advising Uncle
Democrats Stake Out an ICE Position
Senate and House Democratic leaders issued a 10-point proposal last night seeking changes to immigration enforcement after a pair of fatal shootings in Minneapolis by federal agents.
New York Democrats Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries called for a ban on face coverings for immigration enforcement agents, and a judicial warrant requirement for DHS agents to enter private property, in a letter to Republican Senate and House leaders. The Democrats also want verification that US citizens aren’t held in immigration detention.
Republican Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama, who has been designated by her party to negotiate with the Democrats, dismissed the proposal as “a ridiculous Christmas list of demands for the press.” Funding for DHS runs out at the end of next week. Read More
Also Read:
- Democrats’ Immigration Unity Is Tested in Homeland Funding Fight
- Key House Republican Calls for Removing ICE Masks, Citing Trust
- Thune Calls Democrats ‘Afraid of Their Shadows’ on DHS Fight
NJ Election
It’s special primary election day in the House district that used to be represented by Democratic New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill.
Top contenders for the Democratic nomination — with a presumptive clear path to victory because it’s a very blue seat — include ex-Rep. Tom Malinowski, a House member from 2019 to 2023 in an adjacent district; Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill, who has close ties with many party officials and unions; and Analilia Mejia, a political organizer backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), and the progressive Working Families Party.
Greg Giroux reports that Malinowski’s $1.2 million in campaign receipts through Jan. 16 led the Democratic field. He’s also a leading attack-ad target, with more than $2.2 million spent against him by the United Democracy Project super-PAC aligned with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Read More
See Also: New Jersey Race Is Next Experiment for the Mamdani Model
Redistricting Stalemate
Democrats are enjoying a victory lap after the Supreme Court said California can use its hastily redrawn US House map that could net the party five more seats in this year’s elections.
It’s the latest domino to fall on a control-of-Congress gameboard that started out as a Trump plan to buck the trend of the president’s party losing seats in the midterm elections. Texas redrew its map to create more Republican-dominated seats, so Democrats in Sacramento countered.
- “Donald Trump said he was ‘entitled’ to five more Congressional seats in Texas,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said in a statement. “He started this redistricting war. He lost, and he’ll lose again in November.”
Other states’ redistricting efforts are still being litigated. A Supreme Court case from Louisiana could sharply limit the use of the Voting Rights Act to create predominantly Black or Hispanic election districts. Read More
See Also:
- What’s at Stake in Fight Over the Voting Rights Act
- NYC Congressman Says Trump White House Trying to ‘Rig’ 2026 Vote
Less White House Turnover, But....
Turnover rates for President Donald Trump’s senior officials and advisers show less churn than back in the initial year of his first term, according to a Brookings Institution study. But his recent predecessors had a lot more Year One staff stability.
As of last month, the top tier of Trump’s team was 71% intact and his Cabinet hasn’t changed at all. Compare that to 35% turnover, including a couple Cabinet positions, early in the first Trump administration, Mica Soellner reports.
Former President Joe Biden had an 8% turnover rate of his high-level senior staff after his first year, while for Barack Obama it was 9%. President George W. Bush had just a 6% turnover rate of his senior staff at the end of his first year. Read More
Fed Firing Line
The White House has finished its review of a rule intended to reclassify tens of thousands of federal employees and make it easier to fire them, Chris Marr reports.
The administration says a new classification — “Schedule Policy/Career” — needs to be created to more easily terminate employees based on poor job performance or unwillingness to execute the administration’s policy agenda. Critics, including federal employee unions, have said the proposed rule would undermine historic job protections for the civil service and amounts to a federal worker loyalty test.
A draft released in April called for shifting up to 50,000 federal workers into the new classification, about 2% of the workforce. Read More
Eye on Tariffs
Now that Trump has dropped his threat to hit European countries with extra tariffs because they oppose his designs on annexing Greenland, other tariff-related action is back on track.
Jorge Valero reports that the European Parliament has agreed to restart the process for ratifying its trade deal with the US.
Under that deal, the EU would remove nearly all tariffs on American products, while accepting a 15% duty on most exports to the US and a 50% levy on steel and aluminum.
A group of EU lawmakers opposed the deal from the start, however, and criticism mounted after the US extended its 50% metals tariff to hundreds of additional products. Read More
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