My time in 60 minutes and why I refuse to stay still

I've been fighting Donald Trump against Donald Trump for a decade. I officially became General Counsel of the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2016 on April 12, 2015. A month later, on June 16, Trump announced his campaign.

People often forget that Trump and his campaign in 2016 were fixed to undermine free and fair elections. I was equally determined to protect them. This year I led legal disputes in several battlefield states that aimed to defend the voting rights. Our efforts were in vain. While we won some of the complaints, we lost the choice.

Even after he won the 2016 elections, Trump's contempt for democracy remained of central importance for his identity. Donald Trump became the 45th president as a well -known constituent critic, voices -suppressor and someone who wore a personal resentment against me.

The basic outlines of his complaints against me are known. He hates me that I worked for Hillary Clinton. He despises me because I humiliated him in court after the 2020 elections. He is angry that I call for his lies to refuse to reset and continue to defeat him and the GOP in court.

I have endured his bizarre attacks for years. He sued me for inconceivation – and lost. He unleashed his right army of online roles. Since his re -election, he has threatened me, slandered me and picked me out in two executive orders.

The recent development of this saga took place late Friday when a federal judge Trump's executive order blocked permanently to punish my former law firm for my work when I was a partner there. How the court explained:

Perkin's Coies representation of President Trump's political opponent in the 2016 presidential campaign and the representation of other customers in connection with election disputes has attracted President Trump's attention and -because -as is reflected in his public statements and submitting a lawsuit against the company.

The judge offered several examples of these statements. For example, the court found that Trump in March 2024 an article on his social media platform with the title ” “Marc Elias is afraid … and he should be.”

Even more threatening, the court found that Trump twice in autumn 2024 “his intention, when she was chosen,” examined lawyers “and others that he had regarded as” neglected behavior “to examine and persecute political opponents.

What brings me to my appearance on Sunday evening 60 minutes.

A few weeks ago, a producer from the show was impressed by a story about Trump's targeting of law firms. I had already written about the topic and expressed my outrage about Trump's actions and my deep disappointment about the failure of the legal industry to unite behind the targeted companies.

After shaping my views, the producer asked if I was willing to discuss the topic in front of the camera. I wasn't sure. I had previously appeared in one 60 minutes The episode plans to attack the voting rights in 2020, so I knew the exercise – a lot of time talking, for one or two clips in the final cut.

In this case, I also felt like a little player. Yes, I was targeted by Trump, but these were old news. I am no longer in great right and my current law firm is known to represent Democrats, progressive and provoting organizations.

However, I quickly learned that only a few other lawyers – especially partners in large law firms – were willing to speak on TV. The same fear that large law firms had prevented from standing against Trump did not leave her partners ready to speak publicly. Even the targeted companies remained calm.

Shortly after the 2024 elections, I took an inventory of my life. I was 55 years old and have been practicing law for more than 30 years. That may not seem old for some, but it is ancient in political campaigns. If I wanted to step back from the fight, it would be a good time now.

I created in 2020 Democracy -Docket Uncover Trumps lies about elections and democracy in court. Over the years, it has grown into a full media company. In 2024 I started writing more often and doing more on the YouTube channel. It also looked like an intersection.

If Kamala had won Harris, I might have returned. I could have continued to practice and write without maintaining the same strenuous schedule that I had kept for three decades. I even planned to take the time to write a book.

But with Trump in office I decided that all of this should wait. I promised to continue fighting Trump and his authoritarian vision for this country with everything I have.

So I agreed to speak to 60 minutesAnd I promised myself that I would not take any strokes.

On a cool April day, I sat down with CBS Anchor Scott Pelley and answered his questions about Trump, the great law and the threat, which Trump represents for our legal system and democracy. Then I waited.

A separate drama played in the intermediate weeks 60 minutesWith a careless lawsuit by Trump and efforts by a candidate administrative candidate from the Trump administration to delay the sale of his parent company. I was not sure what it meant for the episode – or my appearance in it.

I found it out last night. When the program started at 7 p.m., I knew that the episode would radiate. When the minutes had passed, it became clear that it became clear 60 minutes Had no blows. Through interviews with me and others Pelley Malte a damn picture of a president to make retribution and a legal industry too cowardly to stand against him.

I am presented – along with others other than me – including an employee who quit her job instead of participating in the deal that her law firm had shortened.

From the opening words of judge Beryl Howell – “no American president has ever had executive commands like the one in this lawsuit” – to the 60 minutes Finally, credits was an emotional weekend for me personally.

I have no doubt that Trump's hateful words are not behind me. I am sure that he will escalate his campaign of political retribution. But on my part I won't stop fighting. I will never return. And I will always speak.