Jesse Eisinger

Trump Lawyer Marc Kasowitz Bragged That He Got Preet Bharara Fired

Marc Kasowitz, President Trump’s lawyer in the Russia investigation, has bragged he was behind the firing of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.

June 13th, 2017

By Justin Elliot and
Jesse Eisinger

Trump Lawyer Marc Kasowitz Bragged That He Got Preet Bharara Fired

Marc Kasowitz, President Donald Trump's personal lawyer in the Russia investigation, has boasted to friends and colleagues that he played a central role in the firing of Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, according to four people familiar with the conversations. Kasowitz told Trump, "This guy is

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When It Comes To Wall Street, Preet Bharara Is No Hero

The prominent U.S. attorney fired by Donald Trump this weekend has been justly acclaimed for his pursuit of political corruption. But his treatment of the Wall Street executives involved in the financial meltdown was far less confrontational.

March 13th, 2017

By Jesse Eisinger

When It Comes To Wall Street, Preet Bharara Is No Hero

After his election in 1968, President Richard Nixon asked Robert Morgenthau, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, to resign. Morgenthau refused to leave voluntarily, saying it degraded the office to treat it as a patronage position. Nixon's move precipitated a political crisis. The president named a replacement. Powerful

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Trump’s Meetings With CEOs Seeking Mergers Is Troubling Observers

By meeting with the CEOs of Monsanto and Bayer as well as the head of AT&T, which is trying to merge with Time Warner, Trump has violated decades of White House practice by injecting himself directly into mergers awaiting Justice Department review.

January 25th, 2017

By Jesse Eisinger and
Justin Elliot

Trump’s Meetings With CEOs Seeking Mergers Is Troubling Observers

(ANALYSIS) --- When the CEOs of Monsanto and Bayer met now-President Donald Trump earlier this month, eager for a nod of assent for their

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What Trump EPA Contract Freeze Means For The Environment

The move could disrupt core operations ranging from toxic cleanups to water quality testing, according to records and interviews.

January 24th, 2017

By Andrew Revkin and
Jesse Eisinger

What Trump EPA Contract Freeze Means For The Environment

The Trump administration has imposed a freeze on grants and contracts by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a move that could affect a significant part of the agency's budget allocations and even threaten to disrupt core operations ranging from toxic cleanups to water quality testing, according to records and interviews. In one email

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Trump’s Treasury Secretary Pick Is A Very Lucky Goldman Sachs Banker

Steven Mnuchin has a long history of coming out ahead, even in questionable deals.

December 02nd, 2016

By Jesse Eisinger

Trump’s Treasury Secretary Pick Is A Very Lucky Goldman Sachs Banker

Steven Mnuchin has made a career out of being lucky. The former nominated to become Donald Trump's treasury secretary had the perspicacity to purchase a collapsed subprime mortgage lender soon after the financial crisis, getting a sweet

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Trump’s Advisor On Wall Street Regulations Is A Longtime Swamp-Dweller

Trump’s transition advisor for financial regulations works for a firm that is emblematic of the Washington revolving door.

November 28th, 2016

By Jesse Eisinger

Trump’s Advisor On Wall Street Regulations Is A Longtime Swamp-Dweller

President-elect Donald Trump's transition-team adviser on financial policies and appointments, Paul Atkins, has been depicted as an ideological advocate of small government. But the ways that the Trump

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Why Haven’t Bankers Been Punished? Just Read These Insider SEC Emails

Right after the financial crisis, an SEC lawyer fought a lonely struggle to get his agency to crackdown harder on Goldman bankers. He lost.

April 21st, 2016

By Jesse Eisinger

Why Haven’t Bankers Been Punished? Just Read These Insider SEC Emails

In the late summer of 2009, lawyers at the Securities and Exchange Commission were preparing to bring charges in what they expected would be their first big crackdown coming out of the financial crisis. The investigators had been looking into Goldman Sachs’ mortgage-securities business, and were preparing to take on the bank over a complex deal,

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