Prof. Richard Painter Quoted by CNN About Trump Allies Attacking Deloitte for Employee Messages

Professor Richard Painter, S. Walter Richey Professor of Corporate Law, was quoted in CNN about Donald Trump allies calling for the federal government to punish Deloitte, which received about $3 billion in contracts from the U.S. federal government in fiscal 2024, after an employee at the consulting firm apparently shared his private messages with JD Vance. The Washington Post published a story in September that revealed Vance said in a private 2020 message that Trump  “thoroughly failed to deliver” his economic agenda. The attacks on Deloitte fit a broader pattern of U.S. businesses getting singled out by Trump and his allies and underscore the risk that the former president could weaponize the federal government if he’s returned to the White House in January. Prof. Painter, a former White House ethics lawyer, described the attacks on Deloitte as “shameful,” and that acting against Deloitte’s federal contracts would be an “abuse of federal contracting law.” He said, “Federal procurement is based on quality and price, and hence value to the taxpayers, not who does or does not support the president politically. Even if Deloitte itself had supported Trump’s political opponent, that should not cost them a government contract.”