Storied Law Firm Pays Brutal Price for Surrendering to Trump

Janna Brancolini, Tom Sanders
Fri, December 19, 2025 

The Daily Beast 

Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images

A storied Wall Street law firm that hemorrhaged talent after bending the knee to President Donald Trump has announced plans to merge with a much larger firm in a bid to save its practice.

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft had been actively looking for a merger partner after many of its top attorneys left over the firm’s decision to pledge $100 million in pro bono work to support the president’s priorities, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Last spring, the president signed a series of executive orders stripping attorneys from certain firms of their security clearances, limiting their access to government buildings, and terminating government contracts with the firms.

While some firms like Cadwalader made deals with the administration to avoid a similar punishment, others fought the orders and won big in court, adding to the humiliation of the capitulating firms.

In the wake of the firm’s deal with Trump, key partner groups at Cadwalader, which was founded in 1792 and is Wall Street’s oldest firm, quickly began making lateral moves to other practices, Above the Law reported.

Hogan Lovells is set to merge with Cadwalader, Wall Street’s oldest law firm. 

/ Matthias Balk/picture alliance via Getty Images

The firm, which brings in about $638 million in annual revenue, is now merging with Hogan Lovells, which brought in nearly $3 billion last year, more than quadruple the size of Cadwalader, according to Above the Law.

Hogan Lovells’ chief executive, Miguel Zaldivar Jr., will lead the combined firm, according to the Journal. Cadwalader’s current co-managing partners will be relegated to the new firm’s management committee.

Partners at both firms still need to vote to finalize the merger next year.

The deal is being described as the legal industry’s largest-ever merger, creating a $3.6 billion megafirm with more than 3,000 lawyers, according to the Journal.

Hogan Lovells is headquartered in London and Washington, D.C.

Commenting on the merger, Zaldivar said Wall Street had long been the firm’s “missing piece,” telling the Journal, “We felt that we needed to consolidate our position with a strong finance practice in New York.”

“It’s a deal that makes perfect sense,” he added.

Cadwalader lost hundreds of employees after agreeing to work with the Trump administration. / Wikimedia

Despite being burned by its prior dealings with Trump, Cadwalader co-managing partner Pat Quinn reaffirmed the company’s commitment to pro bono legal work in a statement shared by Reuters.

However, he declined to say whether the firm’s previous deal with the administration would apply to the merged firm.

Last year, another famous Wall Street firm, Shearman & Sterling, merged with Allen & Overy to create a $3.4 billion business. Chicago-based firm Winston & Strawn also announced plans on Monday to merge with U.K. practice Taylor Wessing in 2026.

“The most attractive legal market today, and the most lucrative market, is that New York-London corridor,” Valdivar explained to Reuters.

The Daily Beast has contacted Cadwalader for further comment.

Trump, 79, Rushes to Brag About Poorly Attended Rally

Katie Francis
Sat, December 20, 2025 

THE DAILY BEAST

Donald Trump went on an online midnight ramble after failing to draw a major crowd for a North Carolina rally Friday night.

The president has been back on the campaign trail to ramp up support for the 2026 midterms—where MAGA odds aren’t looking great. Evidence of Trump’s plummeting approval rating was reflected in his inability to fill seats with adoring supporters at his last rally of the year in Rocky Mount, North Carolina.

Keen to rewrite the history of the event as soon as possible, Trump wrote on Truth Social early on Saturday morning: “Just leaving North Carolina, where the Crowd was amazing!”

Trump logged onto Truth Social just after midnight to counter reports that his North Carolina rally couldn't draw a decent crowd. / ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP via Getty Images

He added, “They will hopefully be voting for Michael Whatley, to be the next Senator. His opponent, former Governor Roy Cooper, is a Radical Left Lunatic who let the people of North Carolina down, especially in time of need.”

The MAGA leader then assured his readers that low drug prices “alone should win the Midterms for Republicans!” before veering away from politics to praise Jake Paul for trying his best in a boxing match against “a very talented and large Anthony Joshua.”

A vendor selling Trump merch outside the Rocky Mount Event Center said it was 'strange' how quiet the rally was, but the president seemed to disagree. / Truth Social/@realDonaldTrump

While Trump painted a pretty picture of his rally, a report from the Washington Post suggested otherwise. The paper detailed the smaller-than-average crowd, punctuated by cash-strapped attendees who couldn’t afford any MAGA merch.

Sadly for a Trump merch seller outside the venue, the president’s supporters didn’t want to spend their tight funds on MAGA-themed stocking fillers.

“Usually, Trump rallies are like a football tailgate. This is strange,” the seller told the Post as he packed up his unsold wares on the quiet street before the speech kicked off.

Although Trump may have been playing to a smaller crowd than usual, those who did spend the final Friday before Christmas in attendance were treated to a meandering performance covering everything from the “not easy” cognitive tests he’s mysteriously been taking to the way Melania stores her underwear.

Those who deigned to turn up to the event listened to an unusual speech covering everything from Trump's cognitive testing to his wife's underwear storage. / ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP via Getty ImagesMore

Complaining about how the FBI rifled through the First Lady’s closets and drawers during their 2022 raid of Mar-a-Lago, the president added some unusual details about her housekeeping skills.

“She’s a very meticulous person... Everything is perfect. Her undergarments, sometimes referred to as panties, are folded perfect, wrapped, they’re like so perfect. I say, ‘That’s beautiful,’” he shared.

En-route to Mar-a-Lago Christmas vacation, Trump tries sales pitch on economy to skeptical voters

Andrew Feinberg
Fri, December 19, 2025 

THE INDEPENDENT, UK

Trump stopped in North Carolina on his way to Palm Beach for a two-week vacation at his Mar-a-Lago club (AP)

With his approval ratings at the lowest levels of his presidency and polls showing Americans believing that he has taken his expansive view of presidential power too far, President Donald Trump is headed to his Palm Beach, Florida social club to close out his year with a two-week vacation.

But before he could get away from the continued furor over the Epstein files and head off for leisure time, golf and parties on the Mar-a-Lago patio, the president had to convince voters at a Rocky Mount, North Carolina rally that whatever economic pain they are feeling nearly a year into his second term in office has absolutely nothing to do with him.

For the first 20 or so minutes after he took the stage, it wasn’t clear whether he would stick to that plan.

Trump, sounding hoarse and tired with his speech slurring at times, launched into a meandering, somnolent soliloquy that seemed more focused on recounting what he’d already told reporters several hours earlier, when he hosted pharmaceutical company executives at the White House.

He claimed the agreements with the drug makers, which will see them offer their products at lower costs on a website bearing his name, should be enough to help his party retain control of Congress next year.

“Your drugs are coming down at levels that nobody ever thought was possible. This achievement alone should win us for midterms,” he said.

Continuing his stream-of-consciousness remarks, the president began musing aloud about how he was “taking on the gigantic health insurance companies” by refusing to support extending tax credits that expire at the end of this year, causing premiums for millions of Americans to skyrocket.

He falsely claimed that the Affordable Care Act, the landmark 2010 health care reform law, was “created to make insurance companies rich” and tried to blame Congressional Democrats for the premium increases that will take effect next month.

“I want the money to go directly to the people so you can buy your own health care, and you'll get much better health care at a much lower price,” he said, without explaining how individuals could use the small amount he has proposed to give out to purchase health insurance at a lower rate.

Trump then suggested he could talk insurance executives into lowering premiums by calling them to the White House for a meeting in the same way he has browbeaten drug companies into lowering prices by threatening to tax pharmaceutical imports.

“Maybe they'll surprise us, but maybe we'll ask them for a 50% cut, and maybe they'll give it. You know, you never know. You saw what happened with the drug companies,” he said.

As he kept speaking, Trump interspersed his prepared remarks with racist rants about Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who he said should be thrown out of the country while accusing her of fabricating a story about her son being stopped by law enforcement recently, and mused aloud about how he workshopped a nickname for Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, his former ally who is resigning her seat at the beginning of next month.

It took nearly an hour until the president appeared to return to his prepared remarks by launching into a series of unverifiable claims about how “100 percent” of jobs created during his presidency so far have been in the private sector and boasting of how he is building a “Trump economic boom” with “these factories, auto plants [and] AI plants.”

Trump did not mention the Justice Department’s partial release of the Epstein files during his meandering remarks (AFP via Getty Images)

He also boasted of having placed 25 percent import taxes on foreign cars, 50 percent import taxes on steel, and taxes as high as 50 percent on imported furniture “to save North Carolina's cherished furniture industry, which has been decimated by China.”

“I was very good at real estate, but I used to come to North Carolina to buy furniture for lobbies or furniture for hotels, and I was here a lot. I mean, you've been decimated, but it's coming back then, because I put tariffs on,” he said.

Trump’s stopover in North Carolina on his way to vacation was the second campaign-style rally he has held in as many weeks in what the White House has said will be a series of events meant to promote his administration’s economic record.

But thus far, it does not appear voters are buying what he is selling — whether from the White House or from the stump at his signature rallies.

A National Public Radio / Marist College survey released this week found that 57 percent of respondents disapprove of Trump’s economic management, compared with 36 percent who approve — the lowest rating on this issue across his two terms in office.

While the polling data showed a split among partisans, with 81 percent of Republicans saying Trump is doing a good job and 91 percent of Democrats holding the opposite view, a full 68 percent of self-described independents say they disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy.

It also showed that Trump’s overall approval rating has sunk to 38 percent — his lowest-recorded level of approval since the end of his first term in 2021.

Trump’s approval rating is at the lowest levels recorded since he began his second term in the White House (AFP via Getty Images)

As far as Americans’ views of “affordability” go, the survey did not present a rosy picture for Trump on that topic, either.

About 70 percent of respondents — including nearly half of Republicans — said that the cost of living in their neighborhood is not affordable at all or not very affordable. In contrast, about 30 percent of respondents said the cost of living in their area is affordable, marking a 25-point drop from June.

At the same time, roughly one in three respondents said that their personal financial situation has deteriorated in 2025. About the same share expect their financial situation to get worse next year.

A majority of respondents, 52 percent, also said the U.S. is currently in a recession. And slightly more said Democrats are better equipped to manage the economy than Republicans — 37 percent versus 33 percent.

According to the latest unemployment data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Americans do have reason to be concerned.

While the U.S. economy added 64,000 jobs last month, the report stated that it shed 105,000 positions during the previous month in October. Further revisions by the Labor Department also saw 33,000 jobs removed from August and September payrolls as well.

The BLS report also showed the nation’s unemployment rate climbing to 4.6 percent, marking its highest level since 2021.

Overall, hiring momentum has clearly waned, hampered by uncertainty surrounding Trump’s tariffs and the lingering impact of the high interest rates implemented by the Federal Reserve in 2022 and 2023 to curb inflation.

American companies are largely retaining their existing workforce but remain hesitant to hire new staff as they grapple with integrating artificial intelligence and adapting to Trump’s unpredictable policies, particularly his double-digit taxes on imports from around the world.

In a statement, Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin panned the president’s performance as a “desperate” follow-up to his “delusional” address to the nation just days earlier, and said the rally on Friday was more of the same.

“North Carolinians are struggling, and they aren’t falling for Trump’s spin,” he said.

“Working families in North Carolina and across the country are fed up with having their food, health care, and hard-earned dollars ripped away from them so that Trump’s billionaire donors can attend Great Gatsby parties and enjoy massive tax handouts.”

Trump Told Jesse Watters He's Building White House Ballroom as a 'Monument' to Himself 'Because No One Else Will,' Host Claims

Watters, 47, recounted the alleged conversation to a large crowd at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest in Phoenix on Dec. 20

Toria Sheffield
Sun, December 21, 2025

PEOPLE




NEED TO KNOW

Fox News host Jesse Watters claimed that President Donald Trump told him he is building the new White House ballroom as a “monument” to himself


He added that Trump said he was doing so because “no one else will”


Watters recounted the alleged conversation while speaking at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest in Phoenix on Dec. 20

Jesse Watters claims President Donald Trump told him he is constructing the new White House ballroom as a “monument” to himself — and that he’s doing it “because no one else will.”

The Fox News host recounted the alleged conversation while speaking at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest, a multiday conservative conference and festival in Phoenix, on Saturday, Dec. 20. A video of the moment has since been posted on X.

Watters, 47, told the large crowd that he was sharing a meal with Trump, 79, when the president asked him if he wanted to see a rendition of “the big, beautiful ballroom.”

“I said, ‘Sure, let me see it,’ “ Watters continued. “He [Trump] rolls the whole thing out. And guys, I don't know if you know this — the ballroom is huge. Like, I said, ‘Mr. President, the ballroom is four times the size of the White House.' ”

McCrery Architects/The White HouseRendering of the interior of the proposed White House ballroom

“He said, ‘Jesse, it's a monument. I'm building a monument to myself — because no one else will,' " Watters added, eliciting loud laughs from the audience.

Trump recently said that the 90,000-square-foot ballroom, which is being built on the site of the former East Wing, will now cost $400 million — a significant jump from earlier estimates.

Trump announced the updated price tag on Dec. 17 during a Hanukkah reception at the White House, where he also revealed that a federal judge has allowed construction on the controversial project to move forward. He repeated the figure multiple times while thanking the official for clearing the way for continued construction, describing the ruling as an act of “courage.”

The ballroom — which is being funded entirely by private donors, including a contribution from Trump himself — is expected to be completed by summer 2028.

PEDRO UGARTE/AFP via GettyHeavy machinery tears down a section of the East Wing as construction begins on the White House ballroom on Oct. 20, 2025More

Trump has argued that the sprawling ballroom is needed so future presidents can host large events indoors rather than on the South Lawn.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

It's unclear just how many people the space can accommodate. Trump told NBC News in September that it would hold up to 900 people; BBC reporting cites plans for a capacity of 1,350.

On Dec. 16, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon rejected a request from the National Trust for Historic Preservation to temporarily halt construction while the project undergoes additional review, the Associated Press reported.


'Trump's Address Was A Lie Filled Mess,' Says Fox News Host. 'The Inflation Story Being Sold By Trump Doesn't Match Real Life'

However, the judge said he plans to hold a hearing in January on the group’s request for a preliminary injunction and warned the administration not to make underground construction decisions that would lock in the design of the ballroom above ground, per Bloomberg.

Read the original article on People

Head of group suing over White House ballroom says she trusts Trump-picked chairman to do his job

DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Fri, December 19, 2025


Work continues on the construction of the ballroom at the White House where the East Wing once stood, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Work continues on the construction of the ballroom at the White House where the East Wing once stood, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation said Friday she trusts the Trump-appointed chairman of a federal planning commission to do his job and give serious review to President Donald Trump’s proposal to add a ballroom to the White House.

Carol Quillen said in an interview that she takes Will Scharf, chairman of the National Capital Planning Commission, “at his word” after he said at the panel's December meeting that the review process would be treated seriously once the White House submits the plans.

Scharf said at that meeting that he expected to receive the plans sometime this month, and the panel's review process would happen at a “normal and deliberative pace.”

Quillen said she trusted that would be the case.

“I take him at his word that the process will be conducted as it always is, deliberately and seriously, and that the commission will do its job," she said.

The White House has not responded to multiple queries about when the ballroom plans will be shared with Scharf’s panel as well as the Commission of Fine Arts. The planning commission on Friday released the agenda for its January meeting and the “East Wing Modernization Project” is listed for an “information presentation,” often the first step in its review of a project.

The National Trust last week asked a federal court to halt the ballroom construction until it is subjected to multiple independent reviews, public comment and wins approval from Congress. The government argued in court that the lawsuit was premature.

A federal judge this week denied the National Trust's request for a temporary restraining order but scheduled a January hearing on its motion for a preliminary injunction. Such a step would halt all construction until the reviews, which could take months, are completed.

Quillen said her private nonprofit organization was not asking for the Republican president's proposal to go through reviews just for the sake of doing so. She said the process inevitably leads to a better project because multiple independent parties get to comment on it.

The National Trust was chartered in part to ensure the public participates in decisions that affect the country's historic resources, she said, “and the White House is arguably the nation's most iconic building.”

She said the organization did not sue earlier because legal action is “our last resort” and because of its history of working with administrations.

In Trump's first term, the administration submitted plans to the National Capital Planning Commission for new fencing for the White House perimeter and a tennis pavilion on the south grounds.


Bernie Sanders Says A New 'Breed Of Uber Capitalists' Has Emerged. They Truly Believe They Are 'Superior Human Beings'
Benzinga134


Quillen declined to speculate about why Trump had not already done so for a White House ballroom he has long desired and has moved quickly to build since he returned to office. He complains regularly that the East Room and State Dining Room — two of the largest public spaces in the White House — are too small and has criticized the practice of hosting foreign leaders at state dinners in tents on the south grounds.

Trump has proposed building a 90,000-square-foot ballroom, big enough to accommodate 999 people, where the East Wing of the White House stood for decades until he had it torn down in October in a move that “caught us by surprise,” Quillen said.

He recently upped the construction cost estimate to $400 million, double the original $200 million price, and has said no public money will pay for it. The White House has said the ballroom will be ready before Trump's term ends in January 2029.

The National Trust asserted in its lawsuit that the ballroom plans should have been submitted to the National Capital Planning Commission, the Commission of Fine Arts and Congress before any action.

The lawsuit notes that the organization wrote to those entities and the National Park Service, which oversees the White House grounds, on Oct. 21, after the East Wing demolition began, asking for the projects to be paused and for the administration to comply with federal law. It received no response, the lawsuit said.

The government said in its written response that the ballroom plans have not been finalized despite continuing demolition and other work to prepare the site for eventual construction, which is not expected to begin until April 2026, at the earliest.

The administration also argued that Trump has authority to modify the White House and included the extensive history of changes and additions to the Executive Mansion since it was built more than 200 years ago. It also asserted that the president is not subject to statutes cited by the National Trust.

Trump’s Treasury Goon Tramples on Decades-Old Tradition

Laura Esposito
Sun, December 21, 2025 
THE DAILY BEAST

Magnus Lejhall/TT / via REUTERS

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has upended decades of precedent while cozying up to Donald Trump.

Bessent, 63, has MAGA-ified what was once a traditionally non-partisan role, dozens of former and current Treasury officials warned in a Washington Post report published Sunday. The cabinet member has emerged as one of Trump’s top attack dogs, attending political rallies and going after his political enemies with words—and, at times, fists.

“There’s a standard of decorum that’s traditionally applied to the treasury secretary that they are ignoring completely. That’s par for the course for the Trump administration,” one former Republican administration official told the outlet.

“But it’s particularly jarring when it comes to the Cabinet officer who most presidents have wanted to keep out of politics.”

Trump has said that Bessent will help usher in a

Bessent, who rose to prominence in MAGA as a guest on Steven Bannon’s “War Room” podcast, has amplified the president’s often misleading claims in a role that oversees domestic and international financial, economic, and tax policies.

For example, the secretary—who made history as the first openly gay man to hold the position—repeated Trump’s inaccurate claim that “$20 trillion” in foreign investment has already flooded into the country this year during a Fox News interview.

And in November, when defending inflation, the multimillionaire bizarrely told Meet the Press anchor Kristen Welker: “I can tell you that the Council of Economic Advisers have studied. You know the best way to bring your inflation rate down? Move from a blue state to a red state.”

“Folks on Wall Street and finance ministries around the world, they know that effusive praise and displays of loyalty are just table stakes for any Trump Cabinet officer,” one former aide in a Republican White House told the Post. “What causes concern is when the treasury secretary makes public statements about the U.S. economy that are extremely partisan and factually untrue.”

Investors also told the Post that nonpartisan government memos they receive ahead of government auctions now include political messaging under Bessent.

“In just a short six months, the administration has made extensive progress to enact an agenda that will bring prosperity to all Americans,” one such document from November reportedly reads.

Like his boss, Bessent has also made plenty of political enemies among Democrats.

“I had plenty of differences with Steven Mnuchin. But Mnuchin and I worked constructively on a lot of big stuff,” Sen. Ron Wyden, the highest-ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, told the Post, referring to Trump’s treasury secretary during his first term.

He added: “I’ve always gotten along with treasury secretaries—except this one.”

Bessent, who in the ’90s advised billionaire Trump foe George Soros on finances, also took aim at Sen. Elizabeth Warren after she told U.S. banks not to finance Trump’s massive financial support package for Argentina.



“She is an American Peronist. And the only thing she enjoys more than wasting your tax dollars is our nation’s time,” Bessent wrote in a post on X viewed 2.4 million times, referring to an Argentine ruler who favored the working class.

“While she remains mostly focused on singing ‘Don’t Cry for Me Massachusetts’ and voting against paying government workers, @SenWarren has somehow also found the recent bandwidth to threaten large banks on their lending policies,” he added.

“Senator, come in off the balcony, stop raging against one of our great Latin American allies, and vote to reopen the government.”

In response, a spokesperson for the Massachusetts senator told the Post: “Bessent should focus on bringing costs down for American families and ensuring Wall Street does not crash our economy once again.”

Bessent’s foes aren’t limited to other political parties. In June, the South Carolina native made headlines for a West Wing brawl with Tesla billionaire Elon Musk that was broken up by several bystanders, according to reports at the time.

Elon Musk in the Oval Office, alongside Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick. / Allison Robbert/Getty Images

Months later, Bessent threatened to punch the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency in the face after hearing rumors that he was trash-talking him to the president.

“Why the f--- are you talking to the president about me? F--- you,” Bessent reportedly told the fellow Trump appointee, according to Politico. “I’m gonna punch you in your f------ face.”

The Daily Beast has reached out to the Department of Treasury for comment. In a statement, a spokesperson told the Post: “The markets strongly disagree with any assertion that Secretary Bessent is a partisan actor. Throwing rocks from inside a glass house is ill-advised, and given the consistently absurd left-wing partisanship of The Washington Post it is no surprise that Jeff Bezos has had to waste hundreds of millions of dollars in an attempt to save this rapidly sinking ship.”

Elizabeth Warren Says Making A 'Math Mistake' Shouldn't Cost A 'Fortune,' As Senator Touts Her New Law That Helps Push Back If IRS Gets It Wrong

Vishaal Sanjay
Sat, December 20, 2025

Benzinga.com

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) announced that her bipartisan IRS Math Act has officially been signed into law, aimed at simplifying tax filing and boosting transparency for American taxpayers.
A ‘Math Mistake’ Shouldn’t Cost You A Fortune

On Thursday, in a post on X, Warren said that her new bill ensures that a “math mistake” in tax filings does not cost taxpayers “a fortune or hours of work.”

The legislation essentially mandates the Internal Revenue Service to explain where a filer made an error on their return and provide instructions on how to challenge it, if necessary.

“For years, even making a small math mistake on your taxes turned into a terrible headache,” Warren said in a video accompanying the post. “The IRS would tell you your return was wrong, but they wouldn't tell you where you went wrong, and they sure wouldn't tell you how to fix it.”

Warren described her bill as a common-sense reform that saves Americans time and money. “That means no more spending a fortune on lawyers or hours trying to find errors in tax returns.”

Making a math mistake on your taxes shouldn't cost you a fortune or hours of work.

That's why my bipartisan IRS MATH Act that was just signed into law makes sure you know where you made a mistake and how to push back if the IRS got it wrong. pic.twitter.com/AHqSBA6Enz

Impact On Tax Prep Stocks

Leading tax prep firm, H&R Block Inc. (NYSE:HRB), was down 1.52% on Thursday, and is flat after hours, while its competitor in this space, Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU), was up 1.23%, and is down 0.26% overnight.

It remains unclear whether the legislation influenced the stock moves. However, both companies have a long track record of lobbying against efforts to simplify tax filing, such as the IRS Free File program and other direct filing proposals over the years.

According to federal disclosures, Intuit spent nearly $3.8 million on lobbying in 2024, while H&R Block reported $3.1 million in lobbying expenditures.

This article Elizabeth Warren Says Making A 'Math Mistake' Shouldn't Cost A 'Fortune,' As Senator Touts Her New Law That Helps Push Back If IRS Gets It Wrong originally appeared on Benzinga.com

Exclusive-Trump appointee inspired by conservative media outlet to push for probe of Democratic congressman

REUTERS
Sat, December 20, 2025 

U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell (D-CA) attends a House Judiciary Committee hearing with FBI Director Kash Patel (not pictured), on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 17, 2025. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon

By Chris Prentice and Marisa Taylor

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON, Dec 20 (Reuters) - A mortgage fraud probe of a Democratic congressman began last month after William Pulte, the Republican head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, referred allegations from a conservative news site to his agency’s inspector general for possible ​criminal investigation, government emails seen by Reuters show.

On November 12, The Gateway Pundit published an article alleging U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell had improperly listed his Washington, ‌D.C., home as his “principal residence” on mortgage paperwork. Swalwell, a critic of President Donald Trump who represents a Northern California district and is now running for governor of California, an office that requires residency in ‌that state, has said he is a permanent resident of California. According to loan documents, however, Swalwell had listed his home in Washington as his "principal residence."

An email reviewed by Reuters shows Pulte sent a link to the article to the FHFA’s acting inspector general that day, urging him to take all appropriate action "including - if warranted -engagement with the Department of Justice regarding potential mortgage, tax or other fraud related to the representations made in mortgage documents or other items in the below article."

That same day, Pulte also referred the issue to ⁠the Justice Department, said a source familiar with the ‌matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

The FHFA and Pulte did not respond to requests for comment. Pulte has previously defended the initiative, saying mortgage fraud undermines the U.S. housing market.

Ethics experts have criticized ‍Pulte’s tactics in seeking to target individuals for mortgage misstatements, historically rare prosecutions.

TheGateway Pundit contributor who wrote the article said he is "happy to see more coverage" of the issue. A spokesperson for the Justice Department declined to comment.

Banks generally offer lower interest rates to principal residences when compared to vacation homes or investment properties, allowing owners to save money on mortgage payments.

REFERRAL ​FITS BROADER PATTERN

The allegation against Swalwell echoes those Pulte has leveled against several prominent Democrats and public officials, including New York Attorney General Letitia James, U.S. Senator ‌Adam Schiff of California and Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook. All have come under sharp fire from Trump, a Republican, in his fierce campaign against perceived opponents.

"This has been part of the broader pattern of the politicization of the Department of Justice. It’s highly unethical to try to go after political enemies like this," said Richard Painter, the chief White House ethics lawyer under former Republican President George W. Bush.

"It's an abuse of public office and an abuse of public trust."

A congressional watchdog this month said it will open a probe to examine if Pulte abused his authority as he circumvented the FHFA's traditional investigative process in what critics say are politically motivated attacks.

The ⁠FHFA office of inspector general typically investigates mortgage fraud and refers matters to criminal prosecutors ​as needed, but Reuters previously reported Pulte has bypassed that office in making such referrals.

The communications between ​Pulte and the FHFA OIG were obtained by Democracy Forward, a legal organization with prominent Democrats on its board, and reviewed by Reuters.

Swalwell in late November pushed back, suing Pulte and the agency for violating his privacy in retrieving his mortgage records and for retaliating against ‍him for exercising his First Amendment rights.

In the ⁠lawsuit, Swalwell has said that he is a permanent resident of California and "disclaimed any intent to occupy the District of Columbia home as his primary residence in a sworn affidavit attached to his mortgage agreement."

"Trump and his team's allegations against me are nonsense,” Swalwell told Reuters in a statement. "Pulte’s newly revealed ⁠conduct only reinforces why I brought this case. I intend to see it through."

A federal judge has dismissed a fraud case against New York Attorney General Letitia James that emerged from Pulte's referral, and ‌two subsequent grand juries have declined to indict her again. James and the other targets of Pulte’s mortgage fraud campaign have denied wrongdoing.

(Reporting by ‌Chris Prentice and Marisa TaylorAdditional reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; editing by Diane Craft)

Legendary rock star goes off on Trump: ‘Disgusting human being’

Lauren Musni
Sat, December 20, 2025 


Famous singer, songwriter and guitarist Dave Matthews took to his band’s TikTok page on Thursday to make a few critical remarks about Donald Trump.

The six-minute video features Matthews walking around Brooklyn, New York, where he says he’s visiting family.

He then goes on to talk about how when people talk to themselves now, it’s usually on the phone. He first brings up Trump by mentioning the strikes on the alleged Venezuelan drug boats.

“There’s little evidence to support their actions,” he says in the video. “And pretending its all the fake drugs but really it’s a way to claiming a war against Venezuela so we can steal their oil.”

He also says the evidence of that is the full pardon of Juan Orlando Hernández, the former president of Honduras, who helped funnel cocaine into the United States.

“If you’re fighting drugs, I don’t know if you should be forgiving the guy who brought 10 flat beds of cocaine into the country,” Matthews said.

Matthews also brings up Hilary Clinton, Israel’s actions against Gaza and Trump’s aggressive crackdown on immigration.

“The attacks on immigrants and different populations seems pretty racist,” he said.

His final remark is on how Trump reacted after the murders of legendary director Rob Reiner and his wife Michelle Reiner.

“What a disgusting human being Donald Trump is. What a shallow, horrifying selfish, greedy, cruel little pig he is,” Matthew said.


James Talarico says the biggest ‘welfare queens’ in America are ‘the giant corporations that don’t pay a penny in income taxes’


Matthews rock band, Dave Matthews Band was formed in 1991 and is expecting to have four performances in Cancun in January.

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Opinion - Trump wrongly inflicts collective punishment for shootings on millions

A. Scott Bolden, 

opinion contributor
Sun, December 21, 2025 


Collective punishment is a hateful and unjust practice that has been used by bigots throughout history to harm entire groups of people for the actions or alleged actions of a few individuals. President Trump is now cruelly imposing collective punishment on millions of people around the world in response to deadly shootings in Washington, at Brown University and near MIT.

Following the attack on two National Guard members near the White House in November, Trump imposed new restrictions to keep people from 39 countries out of the U.S.

An Afghan immigrant, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, faces murder and other charges in the attack that killed National Guard member Sarah Beckstrom and gravely wounded guardsman Andrew Wolfe. Lakanwal has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

After a December shooting attack at Brown University left two students dead and nine wounded, followed by the fatal shooting of MIT professor Nuno Loureiro, Trump suspended a diversity lottery program that awarded up to 50,000 green cards annually to enable people from countries (primarily in Africa) with few citizens in the U.S. to immigrate to America.

Portuguese immigrant Claudio Neves Valente, whom authorities said was responsible for shooting the Brown students and the MIT professor, was found dead by self-inflicted gunshot wound Dec. 18.

No one other than Lakanwal and Valente is believed by authorities to have been involved in the shootings.

Trump’s collective punishment of millions people for the alleged actions of two immigrants makes no sense

Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated President John F. Kennedy in 1963, was born in Louisiana. Timothy McVeigh, who murdered 168 people in the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995, was born in upstate New York. By Trump’s faulty logic, the millions of people living in Louisiana and New York should have been collectively punished following those heinous crimes.

Numerous studies dating back to 1870 have found that immigrants — both legal and unauthorized — are far less likely to commit crimes than people born in the U.S. A Cato Institute study published in September found that among people born in 1990, “native-born Americans were 267 percent more likely to be incarcerated than immigrants by age 33.”

The overwhelming majority of immigrants coming to the U.S. are grateful for the opportunity and want to work hard, play by the rules and achieve the American Dream. About 52 million immigrants live in the U.S., including about 14 million who are unauthorized, and together they make up 19 percent of the nation’s workforce, the Pew Research Center reported in August.

Trump — whose mother, paternal grandparents and two of his wives all came to the U.S. from Europe — has spent years demonizing other immigrants, especially those from non-European nations. The shootings of National Guard members, Brown students and the MIT professor gave Trump just the excuse he needed to justify intensifying his anti-immigrant campaign.

The president has attacked nonwhite immigrants from Somalia and other countries with particular fury. He recently compared allowing Somali immigrants into the U.S. to taking “garbage into our country” and denounced Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), a U.S. citizen who is a legal Somali immigrant. “Ilhan Omar is garbage,” Trump said. “Her friends are garbage.” He later falsely stated that she’s “here illegally” and said “we ought to get her the hell out.”

Trump’s bigoted characterization of human beings as subhuman garbage is dangerous and reminiscent of the way Adolf Hitler dehumanized Jews by referring to them as rats, lice, cockroaches, vultures and other animals. In the same way, enslavers of Africans in the United States considered them subhuman animals who could be owned like cattle or horses.

Categorizing people as subhuman means it is fine to deprive them of human rights and inflict unlimited collective punishment on them — up to and including murder.

Leaders around the world have scapegoated racial, religious, ethnic and other minorities since ancient times — collectively punishing vast numbers of people. Black Americans have been frequent targets.

For example, in 1921, a Black man in Tulsa, Okla., was falsely accused of attempting to rape a white female elevator operator. Whites then rioted in a Black neighborhood and in a horrific case of collective punishment killed up to 300 Black residents and destroyed more than 1,000 homes and businesses, looting and burning them in what is known as the Tulsa Race Massacre.

I’m well aware that xenophobia, antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism and other forms of prejudice remain an ugly reality in America and around the world, used by the haters among us to justify all sorts of collective punishment. But until Trump came onto the political scene, I never imagined that a president of the United States would publicly embrace evil and immoral hatreds in the 21st century. Sadly, Trump has proven me wrong.

A. Scott Bolden is an attorney, NewsNation contributor, former chair of the Washington, D.C. Democratic Party and a former New York state prosecutor.

James Talarico says the biggest ‘welfare queens’ in America are ‘the giant corporations that don’t pay a penny in income taxes’

Dave Smith
Sat, December 20, 2025 
FORTUNE



State Representative James Talarico, a Democrat from Texas and US Senate candidate, during a campaign event in Houston, Texas, US, on Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025.


James Talarico, a 36-year-old former public school teacher and current Texas State Representative, is mounting a 2026 U.S. Senate campaign that challenges conventional wisdom about government spending and corporate responsibility. He represents a growing push to scrutinize corporate tax strategies and reframe the debate around who truly benefits from government support. His arguments about tax avoidance by Fortune 500 companies and wealthy executives are gaining traction among young voters and may influence future tax policy discussions if he gains higher office.

​​During a recent taping of Jubilee Media’s web series Surrounded at the company’s Los Angeles studios, Talarico sat down with roughly 20 undecided Texas voters to debate his policy positions. The episode, which released on Monday, caught fire on social media after Talarico delivered a pointed reframing of conservative rhetoric about welfare spending. In a sharp challenge to long-standing political talking points about “welfare queens”—a term traditionally used to disparage low-income individuals receiving government benefits—Talarico flipped the script, arguing that the nation’s actual dependency on public resources flows upward, not downward.

“The biggest welfare queens in this country are the giant corporations that don’t pay a penny in federal taxes,” he said. He also extended his critique to include wealthy executives, adding “the biggest welfare queens are the CEOs who get a tax deduction for flying on a private jet.”

Corporate tax avoidance as hidden welfare

Talarico’s argument strikes at a real issue: Some of America’s largest corporations have legally structured their tax arrangements to minimize or eliminate federal income tax liability. This practice has drawn scrutiny from policymakers across the political spectrum and sparked ongoing debates about tax code reform.​ So, rather than accepting that welfare is primarily a lower-income issue, he argues the problem is systemic and benefits the wealthy.

Talarico said his background as a middle school language arts teacher at Rhodes Middle School in San Antonio informed many of his policy positions.

“I was a public school teacher, so I saw how when kids showed up hungry, they couldn’t learn,” he told local ABC affiliate KSAT in October. “Even my brightest students, even my hardest working students couldn’t succeed. Couldn’t pull themselves up by their bootstraps when they didn’t have boots.”​

To illustrate the point, he invoked a metaphor about teaching someone to fish: “If you’re gonna take your friend out on a boat for the day to teach him how to fish, you wanna make sure he had breakfast that morning. You wanna make sure he’s not sick, because that allows him to learn how to fish again,” he said.​

A platform around corporate accountability

Since his election to the Texas House in 2018 at age 28, Talarico has positioned himself as a champion of legislation targeting corporate and pharmaceutical industry practices. He was instrumental in passing legislation capping insulin copays at $25 per month in Texas and enabling the importation of lower-cost medications from Canada.

His Senate campaign messaging appears to hinge on this core idea: that fairness and personal responsibility should apply equally to billionaires and working people.

“We don’t want dependency. We want to reward hard work. And I think that should apply to those billionaires, not just working people,” he said during the recent taping.

​You can watch the entire Surrounded episode featuring James Talarico below:

The Next Winners in PE’s Big 401(k) Push: Million-Dollar Lawyers

claffra/iStock/Getty Images

Loukia Gyftopoulou
November 24, 2025 
WealthManagement. 

(Bloomberg) -- Big Law made one fortune helping private equity lure large investors. Now it’s minting another helping the industry attract small ones.

Law firms that have long advised private equity giants on mergers and acquisitions — and often bill more than $1,000 an hour for their services — are joining the industry’s latest treasure hunt: prying open America’s 401(k)s.


The lawyers’ lucrative, if unglamorous, task: setting up funds that promise to bring private equity’s rarefied style of investing to everyday people, even as some big institutions pull back from these investments. 

For the financial-industrial complex — bankers, asset managers, lawyers, financial advisors, record-keepers — the incentive is obvious. All told, nearly $13 trillion is sitting in 401(k) accounts and other defined-contribution retirement plans. Tapping into that trove could help plug gaps left by deep-pocketed pensions and endowments.    

“More and more people are realizing there’s a lot of money in this,” said Phil Troyer, of counsel at Endeavor Law in Overland Park, Kansas, who specializes in compliance in the retirement-plan industry.

Financial advisors say average investors should tread carefully when weighing whether to add private assets to their retirement mix. There’s no guarantee future investment returns will justify the industry’s high fees.

Lawyers, however, can bill today. Legal fees for the structuring and paperwork of a simple private-markets fund for retail investors can sometimes be as much as $1.5 million, according to people familiar with the matter. Ongoing legal work can amount to hundreds of thousands a year.

Wall Street lawyers say they’ve never seen anything quite like this. Fund specialists — who once set up far less lucrative mutual funds and exchange-traded funds and were snubbed by some of the big firms — are now so coveted that pay can stretch into seven digits, people close to the firms say. Ho-hum legal work like going through fund regulations and preparing prospectuses suddenly looks like a growth business. 

And so big-name law firms like Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Kirkland & Ellis are stepping up and looking for talent in an area that, until recently, was far from being a priority. They’re helping the likes of Apollo Global Management Inc., Blackstone Inc. and KKR & Co. set up funds aimed at retail investors. A lawyer at one prominent firm said he recently received 25 inquiries in a single week from private-markets firms looking to get into the 401(k) market. 

Private equity players and their lawyers have been laying the groundwork for this moment for years.

Since 2020, the number of semi-liquid private-market funds — which allow periodic cash redemptions — aimed at retail and private-wealth investors has doubled, to roughly 380, according to Preqin. 

Now, the push is accelerating after President Donald Trump gave the industry a green light to go after the 401(k) market. This year, Apollo, Ares Management Corp., Blackstone, Blue Owl Capital Inc., Brookfield Asset Management, Neuberger Berman and Partners Group all announced new funds for the masses. More are on the way.

Simpson Thacher, which advised KKR on its famous 1989 buyout of RJR Nabisco, has done legal work on more than 50 funds since it started building a retail team in 2014, according to people familiar with the matter, including for Blackstone, Apollo, KKR and TPG Inc. 

The law firm advised on a new partnership between Blackstone, Vanguard Group — the great popularizer of low-cost index funds — and Vanguard’s longtime partner Wellington Management Co., and a similar tie-up with Capital Group and KKR to bring private-market funds to the masses.

To handle the new business, law firms have been shelling out for legal talent. In the past decade, Simpson Thacher has expanded its team for retail funds from a handful of people to include 21 partners and 125 lawyers.

Kirkland & Ellis has expanded its unit to about 60 people from fewer than five a half-decade ago and advises at least 60 clients on their retail funds, according to people familiar with the matter. Recent clients include Ares’ Strategic Income Fund and Neuberger Berman’s Private Markets Access Fund.

In July it said it’s advising Blue Owl on a strategic partnership with retirement, employee benefits and investment management firm Voya Financial Inc. to develop private-markets products for defined-contribution retirement plans.

Two other white-shoe law firms, Davis Polk & Wardwell and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, have been hiring in this area, too. 

Rajib Chanda, the partner who set up the Simpson Thacher’s retail practice, Kirkland & Ellis partner Erica Berthou and Cleary Gottlieb partner Jeff Karpf each said their firms are following client demand. Davis Polk didn’t respond to requests for comment.

SpaceX Is Buying Up an Unfathomable Number of Cybertrucks

Victor Tangermann
Sat, December 20, 2025
FUTURISM

SpaceX bought over 1,000 Cybertrucks from Tesla, a number that could rise to 2,000 over time, according to Electrek.

Now that EV tax incentives have gone up in smoke, Tesla is expected to disappoint once again with its Q4 sales.

Despite a pessimistic sales forecast, Tesla’s shares have skyrocketed and are up almost 50 percent over the last six months — showing yet again how the company’s $1.5 trillion market cap is largely untethered from the success of its core business.


But that hasn’t stopped Tesla CEO Elon Musk from seemingly putting his thumb on the scales. As an insider source told Electrek, the billionaire’s space company SpaceX has bought over 1,000 Cybertrucks from Tesla, a number that could rise to 2,000 over time.

In other words, one of Musk’s other companies has allegedly spent north of $100 million on Teslas that it’s hard to imagine it finding a use for — and in what looks an awful lot like an embarrassing ploy to save face for the EV maker.

A video circulating on Musk’s social media platform, X, shows an enormous number of Cybertrucks parked outside of SpaceX’s facilities in South Texas.

Considering the pickup EV has been an enormous commercial flop, only selling barely a fraction of Musk’s promised 250,000 to 500,000 Cybertrucks a year, there’s a good chance Tesla is using the mercurial CEO’s other venture to boost the numbers ahead of the end of an otherwise disastrous year.


As Musk continues to alienate his customers following his embrace of far-right ideologies, the company is struggling to close sales. Tesla’s US sales dropped to a nearly four-year low in November, as Reuters reported last week. A cheaper, stripped-down version of its Model Y SUV failed to reverse the downward trend.

According to registration data, the company sold just 5,385 Cybertrucks in the US in Q3, a precipitous drop of 62 percent compared to the same period last year.

Apart from being a major commercial flop, the Cybertruck has also been recalled eight times for sometimes-glaring design issues, and criticized for its relatively low range and much higher than originally advertised price.

Nonetheless, Musk is adamant that the truck is a success story, tweeting earlier this month that it’s an “incredible vehicle” and “our best ever from Tesla.”


How committed the EV maker still is to producing the stainless steel monstrosity remains to be seen. Musk has been trying to transition Tesla away from selling traditional vehicles, doubling down on a robotaxi service and humanoid robots instead.

In the meantime, Tesla’s core business is looking worse for wear. Beyond drying up demand, the company is facing fresh regulatory headwinds, with California threatening the company with a 30-day car sales ban in the state for misleading its customers with the term “Autopilot.”

Despite its erroneous marketing terms, Tesla vehicles — at least the ones being sold to the public — are not able to fully drive themselves, and require the driver to be able to take over control at any time.

More on Tesla: Old Teslas Are Falling Apart as They Age

Elon Musk Calls Cybertruck Tesla's 'Best Ever' — But Sales Say Otherwise

Badar Shaikh
December 8, 2025 
Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC 

Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk has touted the company's controversial Cybertruck as the best-ever Tesla, but the sales data tells a different story about the Cybertruck's successes (or lack thereof).

Cybertruck Is An ‘Incredible' Vehicle, Elon Musk Says

Musk took to the social media platform X on Thursday to express his thoughts on the truck, calling it an "incredible" vehicle. "Our best ever from Tesla," Musk said, as he quoted a post that showcased the Cybertruck's ability to operate in sub-zero temperatures and gas savings compared to traditional ICE-powered pickup trucks.

Tesla's Cybertruck Woes

Despite Musk's claims, SpaceX and xAI stepping in to buy the trucks, as well as Twitter (now X) founder Jack Dorsey backing the EV pickup truck, the Cybertruck has fared poorly in terms of sales, failing to translate the hype into units sold off the EV giant's showroom lots. Tesla, in Q3 2025, sold just 5,385 Cybertruck units in the U.S., representing a 62.6% YoY decline.

Recent reports also suggest that Tesla could be sitting on tens of thousands of unsold units of the truck, as the automaker also discontinued the affordable RWD Long-Range version of the pickup, which retailed for $69,990 in the U.S. just five months after launching the trim level.

The company also tried a shift in marketing strategy to help accelerate sales growth, positioning it as a rugged, lifestyle vehicle, but it hasn't helped boost adoption among customers. Tesla also recently issued a recall for the Cybertruck, recalling 6,197 units of the vehicle due to a lightbar issue.

Cybertruck's Polarizing Design, Lawsuits

Another aspect of the truck is its polarizing design, which, according to investor Gary Black of the Future Fund LLC, holds the product back from selling. Meanwhile, Ross Gerber, co-founder of Gerber Kawasaki, who owns a Cybertruck himself, opined that Tesla should discontinue the pickup amid poor sales.

However, the design has also resulted in lawsuits, with parents of 19-year-old Krysta Tsukahara filing a wrongful death lawsuit against the automaker for an accident in November 2024.

The parents allege that Tsukahara was trapped inside the flaming vehicle due to the Cybertruck's electronic door system. The flush door handles have been a point of contention among safety experts.

Musk's Million Bookings Claim

When it was showcased and bookings opened, Musk claimed that there were more than a million bookings for the Cybertruck. However, the company has, to date, sold approximately 57,000 units, with over 16,097 units sold in the first three quarters of 2025 so far, according to Kelley Blue Book data.

Tesla, earlier this year, began accepting Cybertruck trade-ins, offering close to $65,400 for an All-wheel-drive 2024 version, which was available at $100,000 at launch, representing a 34% decline in value.

Falling EV Demand

However, a broader look at the market would show that, besides the Cybertruck's poor performance, demand for EVs has fallen since President Donald Trump took office earlier this year.

The administration has made a series of anti-EV decisions, like the ending of the $7,500 Federal EV Credit and the recent relaxation of Corporate Average Fuel Economy norms, which have affected EV demand.

Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F) recently paused production of the F-150 Lightning EV Pickup truck, and is reportedly considering scrapping the production altogether. Interestingly, the pickup is the best-selling EV pickup truck in the U.S. The company's EV sales also fell by over 60% in November.

General Motors Co. (NYSE:GM), too, scaled back on EV production as it laid off close to 3,400 workers across multiple EV facilities, as the company, during its third-quarter earnings call, announced it took on a $1.6 billion charge related to EVs.

Photo courtesy: Shutterstock