Biglaw, Election Law, Politics

A Closer Look At Don McGahn And Jones Day's Work For Donald Trump

How did Don McGahn and Jones Day wind up representing the controversial candidate?

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Jones Day's Don McGahn (left) with his client, Donald Trump.

Jones Day’s Don McGahn (left) with his client, Donald Trump

How did Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, notoriously loudmouthed and anti-Establishment, come to be represented by the law firm of Jones Day, famously tight-lipped and blue-chip?

That mystery gets uncovered in this fascinating Washington Post piece by Ben Terris, a deep drive into JD partner Donald F. McGahn’s work for Donald J. Trump. Terris reports:

[I]f any member of the so-called establishment would be willing to gamble on a Donald Trump presidency, there are plenty of reasons why it would be Don McGahn.

In the 1980s, a young Donald Trump had his sights set on a different kingdom to conquer.

Atlantic City had recently passed legislation to allow casinos, and Trump wanted a piece of the action. Doing so required a power broker, someone who understood the intricacies of both the law and local political forces. So Trump turned to a portly Irish American attorney named Patrick McGahn — “Paddy” to his friends, and Uncle Pat to his nephew Don.

Paddy, the son of a shopkeeper and recipient of three Purple Hearts from the Korean War, was known to have the best professional connections in town, and the high legal fees worthy of them. As Trump gobbled up real estate, Paddy paved the way.

Just as his nephew Don, aided by his team at Jones Day, is paving the way for Donald Trump’s presidential ambitions. But at least Don McGahn’s work isn’t as, well, shady as his late uncle’s. Per the Post:

When Trump purchased property from two brothers with Mafia ties, he paid double the value, according to Wayne Barrett’s book, “Trump: The Deals and the Downfall” [affiliate link], and put the title in the name of Paddy’s secretary before transferring it to one of his corporate entities.

Paddy McGahn’s representation wasn’t cheap, but Trump didn’t mind, noting that “he gets things done in this town.” Perhaps Trump feels the same way about Don McGahn, a D.C. insider, former chairman of the Federal Election Commission, and leading election lawyer. It seems that Don McGahn came to Trump’s attention because of his uncle:

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Did Trump recognize a name he could trust when he decided to hire Don McGahn to get things done in This Town? McGahn did not respond to repeated requests for an interview, nor did the Trump campaign.

“I got to believe that Trump came to Don because of Pat, that’s got to be the connection,” said Bill Pascrell III, a lobbyist who worked on behalf of Trump casinos for more than a decade. “When Trump needed an election lawyer, I doubt he just Googled ‘good election lawyers.’”

Donald Trump and Jones Day might seem to be an awkward fit — citing our earlier story, Ben Terris notes that “Trump’s message is a tough one for folks at Jones Day to swallow” — but Trump and Don McGahn are more copacetic. Just as Paddy McGahn shared Trump’s “in your face” approach to politics, his nephew Don exhibits an anti-Establishment streak, despite working at a white-shoe firm:

[Don McGahn’s] always been a bit of an iconoclast. Until recently he kept his hair long, and he still plays bass in an ’80s cover band that gigs in Ocean City, Md. While many of his colleagues boast Ivy League diplomas, McGahn got his law degree from Pennsylvania’s Widener University. Like Trump, he’s something of an outsider no matter how far inside he gets.

Oh, and here’s a delicious tidbit of Biglaw gossip that might explain McGahn’s willingness to represent such a controversial client:

Shortly after McGahn started at Jones Day he picked up a new client: Aaron Schock, the congressman who was then reeling from a scandal involving the misuse of federal funds and has since left office. To this day, according to FEC reports, Schock has still not paid Jones Day the nearly $750,000 he owes them. (Jones Day representatives also did not return calls.)

Getting stiffed by Schock put McGahn in a difficult position with his new law partners, said a Republican strategist who has worked him. “He had this huge hole to fill. And when Trump came along, he was under a lot of pressure by management to fill that hole.”

So far, according to FEC reports, Trump has filled nearly $700,000 of that hole.

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And there might be plenty more where that came from, as the Trump-Cruz battle escalates further, perhaps culminating in a contested convention — where, again, Don McGahn’s savvy will come in very handy.

You can read Ben Terris’s extremely interesting WaPo piece — which also explores, among other things, whether there’s any conflict or tension between McGahn’s election 2016 work and that of his partner, renowned election lawyer Ben Ginsberg — over here.

Trump’s own Beltway establishment guy: The curious journey of Don McGahn [Washington Post]

Earlier: Jones Day: Helping Donald Trump To Make America Great Again
Will Jones Day Drop Donald Trump As A Client?

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