Newly filed court documents reveal that the Justice Department’s subpoenas to 14 law firms are far broader than previously reported. Issued July 1, the subpoenas sought sweeping document production — including any communications, since January 20, 2025, involving Trump’s personal senior counsel Boris Epshteyn, along with materials on the negotiation, implementation, and monitoring of the firms’ agreements with the administration, communications about the law firm executive orders, and even related social media posts and direct messages. Responses were due July 16, and it is not yet known whether any firm complied. A second set of subpoenas directs the leaders of all 14 firms to sit for depositions on August 3.

Recipients include firms that struck deals with the White House as well as those targeted by an executive order or presidential memorandum, among them Covington & Burling. Four firms hit with executive orders — Susman Godfrey, WilmerHale, Jenner & Block, and Perkins Coie (now Ashurst Perkins Coie) — won in district court and are awaiting a federal appellate ruling.

The subpoenas arose from a discovery fight in the American Bar Association’s lawsuit challenging what it calls a policy of intimidating law firms. Legal observers quoted by Law.com view the move as pressure on the ABA to abandon the case; DOJ says it simply wants the ABA to seek the information from its own members rather than from a presidential adviser. DOJ has also moved to disqualify Susman Godfrey as the ABA’s counsel, arguing it cannot serve as both advocate and fact witness.

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