Trump Seeks Extraordinary New Powers
Author: Greg Valliere
March 28, 2025
EVEN REPUBLICANS ARE REELING as the Trump White House seeks dramatic new powers to punish law firms and control prices.
IT’S A GIVEN that massive layoffs will continue, and regulations will be abolished, but these two new moves are extraordinary and have worried Washington insiders.
TRUMP IS STILL FURIOUS at law firms that represented his critics; Robert Mueller was special counsel in the Trump-Russia investigation, and Trump wants retribution.
TRUMP HAS ORDERED THE CANCELLATION of all government contracts with the prestigious WilmerHale law firm, where Mueller worked and still has a relationship.
TRUMP WANTS to suspend the firm’s security clearances for its employees. Trump also wants to bar WilmerHale employees from federal buildings, ban them from communicating with government employees, and prevent them from being hired at government agencies. Other major law firms that represented Trump critics also have been targeted.
NOW COMES NEWS, in this morning’s Wall Street Journal, that Trump told U.S. auto executives that they would face sanctions if they raise prices on U.S. made autos.
HE TOLD executives earlier this month that the White House would look unfavorably on price hikes, leaving some of them rattled and worried they would face punishment if they increased prices, according to the Journal article.
BOTTOM LINE: Trump is determined to get his way; perhaps it will take legal action, or perhaps it will require threats like the ones against law firms and auto makers.
THIS HAS TO SEND A SIGNAL to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who’s in no rush to lower interest rates. Trump spoke out against the Fed this week, with more to come if the central bankers don’t cut rates this spring.
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