Lawyer resigns from firm over Trump deal, says ‘pay attention’

“I was hoping to get people to pay attention to what was going on,” says Rachel Cohen, a now-former Associate at Skadden Arps, one of the handful of firms which recently made agreements with the Trump administration. “We’ve underestimated” the Trump administration’s attacks on the justice system, says Cohen. They’re coming for the big firms first, because “it’s hard to care what happens to Skadden Arps”, but it’s ultimately clients like Kilmar Abrego Garcia and others – and the rule of law – ultimately suffering the heaviest consequences. “I don’t want to be a liability to them,” says Mark Zaid, a national security attorney and co-founder of WhistleBlower Aid who has been defending whistleblowers of all party affiliations for decades. “This is the first administration who has actually targeted me because of that.”