Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is ramping up his criticism of President Donald Trump, accusing him of using the power of the presidency to intimidate law firms that oppose his agenda. In a post on X on March 26, Sanders claimed that Trump threatened the firm Paul, Weiss with an illegal executive order, resulting in the firm handing over $40 million.
“Trump is undermining our democracy piece by piece,” Sanders wrote. “He threatened the multi-billion dollar ‘Democratic’ law firm Paul, Weiss, with an illegal executive order. They caved and gave Trump $40 million. They care more about their bottom line than our democracy. We won’t forget.”
A Major Escalation
Sanders’ post came just days after Trump issued a memorandum allowing the attorney general and the homeland security secretary to sanction law firms that file what they consider “frivolous” lawsuits against the administration. Legal experts have called the move an unprecedented attack on the legal system.
The executive orders already targeted firms, including Covington & Burling, Perkins Coie and Paul, Weiss, suspending employees’ security clearances and blocking their access to federal buildings. Perhaps more significantly, the administration also pushed for a review of government contracts held by those firms’ clients.
Brad Karp, the chair of Paul, Weiss, reportedly acknowledged the pressure in a leaked internal message, writing, “The executive order could easily have destroyed our firm. It threatened our clients with the loss of their government contracts, and the loss of access to the government, if they continued to use the firm as their lawyers.”
Trump ally Steve Bannon made the administration’s intentions unmistakable. “He’s going to put those law firms out of business,” Bannon said. “What we are trying to do is put you out of business and bankrupt you.”
Sanders: Trump Has No Mandate
Sanders argues that Trump lacks the public support to justify such extreme measures. “Trump likes to talk about his ‘mandate.’ Really?” he wrote in another post. “He got 4 million fewer votes than Biden in 2020, and the only president with a lower approval rating at this point in his presidency was Trump in his first term. Trump has no mandate to move us to oligarchy or authoritarianism.”
At rallies across the western U.S. alongside Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Sanders has continued hammering this point. Trump is pushing the country “very rapidly toward an authoritarian form of society,” he told reporters after a recent event.
He also criticized what he sees as billionaire influence over government, pointing to reports that Elon Musk donated nearly $300 million to Trump and Republican campaigns in 2024.
“You’ve gotta be kind of blind not to understand that you have a government of the billionaire class, for the billionaire class, by the billionaire class,” Sanders said.
Fighting for Working People
Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez have drawn thousands to rallies focused on economic justice. In Las Vegas, Sanders addressed the hardships of living paycheck to paycheck, calling it a national disgrace.
“Stress every day to pay the rent. That’s what it’s about,” he said. “In the richest country in the world, working-class people should not have to die unnaturally young. They should be able to live long and productive lives.”
Despite rumors of a Senate run for Ocasio-Cortez or another presidential bid for Sanders, he dismissed the speculation. “Right now, I’m Vermont’s senator. That’s what I do. And I’m very happy to do it. I am 83 years of age, and I’m tired.”
But his message remains clear: Trump’s recent actions represent a dangerous shift, and those who enable it — whether in law firms or political office — won’t be let off the hook.
IMAGE CREDIT: “Bernie Sanders” by Gage Skidmore, via Flickr. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. Image adjusted for layout.