‘Spying on Americans…': Kristi Noem pulls plug on TSA spy program that targeted 'political enemies'
TSA's secretive 'Quiet Skies' program, meant to monitor airline passengers for signs of suspicious behavior, has officially been shut down. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the termination, calling the program ineffective, costly, and politically weaponised. Noem said the initiative failed to stop a single terror attack and was used to target political opponents under the guise of national security.
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Mint
9 hours ago
- Mint
Paul Weiss Strategy Tested as Partners Exit Post-Trump Deal
Paul Weiss leader Brad Karp spent more than a decade building his firm's deals practice to an elite level matching its litigation work. A deal he struck with President Donald Trump threatens the balance between the two. The Wall Street firm lost a string of litigation partners following the March 20 deal with Trump to provide $40 million in free legal services. The move got Paul Weiss out from under an executive order that Karp said threatened the firm's survival. Jeh Johnson, the prominent Democrat and former Homeland Security Secretary, last month retired from the firm where he'd spent parts of 40 years. Days later, a high-profile group of litigators, including Karen Dunn, Bill Isaacson, and Jeannie Rhee, hit the exit to launch their own firm, which numbers seven ex-Paul Weiss partners so far. Also gone: Damian Williams, the former Manhattan US Attorney who bolted from Paul Weiss after six months on the job to join Jenner & Block, a firm that successfully fought off a Trump executive order in court. All have Democratic ties. The departures accentuate a long-term trend at Paul Weiss, with the firm shifting its focus to lucrative work for private equity giants such as Apollo Global Management, Blackstone, and Bain Capital. That's brought greater headcount, revenue, and profitability, but also challenged the firm's identity. 'Paul Weiss made a decision a while ago to invest in their corporate work, and this is just a further development in that trajectory,' said Alisa Levin, a veteran recruiter with Greene-Levin-Snyder Legal Search Group. 'Nobody has left yet from the corporate side and I doubt that anybody will.' A Paul Weiss spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. The firm under Karp has changed its compensation model so that partners don't know what others earn, and it added a second tier of partners who don't share in the firm's profits. Some of those who departed for the new Dunn firm were in the income partner category, according to three sources familiar with the firm. The corporate practice now outnumbers the litigation group, data from Leopard Solutions show. Karp, who has worked at Paul Weiss for more than 40 years, rose to prominence as a litigator and led the firm's courtroom practice before becoming chairman in 2008. He's become a go-to lawyer for the National Football League and built a reputation counseling major banks including Citigroup and Morgan Stanley. 'I went to Paul Weiss because of the reputation as the finest litigation, white collar defense firm in the county,' he said in a 2024 podcast interview with Quinn Emanuel leader John Quinn. Karp, who snagged Apollo as a major client on the litigation side, identified public M&A, private equity, and restructuring as three practice groups Paul Weiss needed to develop when he took the reins. 'You wouldn't be at the top of the national or New York market if you were a very successful litigation defense boutique,' Karp said in the podcast interview. 'We just had to be broader than that, and we had to be more resilient than that.' He scored a coup bringing onboard Scott Barshay from Cravath Swaine & Moore in 2016. Barshay, as corporate department head, holds great sway within the firm, bringing in major business and leading some of its recruitment efforts. Barshay was among a small group of partners Karp consulted on how to respond to Trump's executive order, the New York Times reported. Tension between litigation and corporate groups is not unique to Paul Weiss. Kirkland & Ellis, the world's largest firm by revenue, was long known as a Chicago-based litigation shop before its corporate practice shot to the top of the industry on the back of the surging private equity industry in the mid-to-late 2010s. Kirkland is among the nine firms that made deals with Trump to avoid executive orders, pledging nearly $1 billion in free legal services. Some Kirkland alumni describe litigation as an add-on 'service' for corporate clients, a view that firm leader Jon Ballis, has pushed back against, saying that the firm's litigation group would be larger than most law firms based on its revenue and is comparatively profitable to the firm's corporate work. Kirkland's litigation group has focused its work on major matters and been more receptive to alternative fee arrangements, which can bring large profit margins. Paul Weiss' litigators have maintained a lofty position in the industry. Top litigators include Ted Wells, former US Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and appellate practice leader Kannon Shanmugam. Many of the lawyers who departed had strong ties to Democrat politics, with Dunn prepping presidential candidate Kamala Harris for her debate with Trump, and Williams serving in a role appointed by President Joe Biden. Karp told attendees at a litigation partner lunch last week that six of the firm's 10 largest ongoing matters are litigation-related and none of those matters was generated or worked on by any of the partners who recently departed the firm, according to three people who attended the meeting. 'Paul Weiss is an institution, and the firm's litigation team will continue on as a top-caliber group despite these departures,' said Jon Truster, a partner at recruiting firm Macrae. Dunn and Isaacson joined the firm in a high-profile move from Boies Schiller Flexner in 2020. The group was known for its relationships with Big Tech clients such as Apple Inc., Oracle Corp., Facebook Inc., Uber Technologies Corp., and Inc., which it continued to represent at Paul Weiss. Dunn also pursued pro bono work with Paul Weiss-like vigor, including representing plaintiffs in a lawsuit over the Charlottsville 'Unite the Right' rally. The firm's commitment to pro bono work dates back at least a century. Paul Weiss attorneys worked to overturn the wrongful conviction of 'the Scottsboro boys,' a group of Black teenagers in the 1930s who were falsely accused of raping a White woman in Alabama. The firm opened an office in San Francisco—a historically difficult market to crack—shortly after the arrival of Dunn and Isaacson, signaling the hires' impact. Paul Weiss' Silicon Valley presence today numbers less than 40 lawyers, and it has only made one internal partner promotion there since the office opened. Dunn appears set to continue her work with major clients. She's notified courts in cases representing Google and Qualcomm of her change to a new firm, staying on the cases alongside other Paul Weiss lawyers. She did withdraw from one case this week. She is no longer working alongside Paul Weiss lawyers representing the city of Springfield, Ohio in a pro bono case against the Blood Tribe, a group labeled as neo-Nazis by the Anti-Defamation League that rallied in the city in 2024 amid a campaign of conspiracy theories directed against its Haitian community. To contact the reporters on this story: Roy Strom in Chicago at rstrom@ Justin Henry in Washington DC at jhenry@ To contact the editors responsible for this story: Chris Opfer at copfer@ John Hughes at jhughes@ Alessandra Rafferty at arafferty@ This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Mint
11 hours ago
- Mint
With reporters shot and roughed up, advocates question whether those covering protests are targets
More than two dozen journalists have been injured or roughed up while covering protests against immigration raids in Los Angeles, leading press freedom groups to question whether law enforcement has been deliberately targeting reporters on the story. Journalists have been pelted with rubber bullets or pepper spray, including an Australian TV reporter struck while doing a live shot and a New York Post reporter left with a giant welt on his forehead after taking a direct hit. A CNN crew was briefly detained then released on Monday night. The advocacy group Reporters Without Borders said there have been at least 27 attacks on journalists — 24 from law enforcement — since the demonstrations started. The Committee to Protect Journalists, the First Amendment Coalition and Freedom of the Press Foundation were among the groups to express concern to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem. In a letter, they said 'federal officers appear to have deliberately targeted journalists who were doing nothing more than their job covering the news.' Noem hasn't replied, David Loy, legal director of the First Amendment Coalition, said Tuesday. A Noem spokesperson didn't have an immediate comment for The Associated Press. Experts say the apparent hostility toward journalists, or a disregard for their role and safety, became particularly apparent during demonstrations following the death of George Floyd in 2020. A troubling indication of a decline in press freedom is the rapid escalation of threats journalists face in the United States, said Bruce Shapiro, executive director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at Columbia University. While most journalists covering wars receive training and safety equipment, it is apparent that many — particularly freelancers — don't have similar protection when assigned to events like the Los Angeles demonstrations, he said. 'It's not like covering a war zone,' Shapiro said. 'But there are some very specific skills and strategies that people need to employ. The First Amendment is only as strong as the safety of the journalists covering these events.' On Sunday, Australian journalist Lauren Tomasi was shot in the leg by a rubber bullet while reporting live, with a microphone in her hand, from protests in downtown Los Angeles. Widely circulated video shows her crying out in pain and clutching her lower leg as she and her camera operator quickly move away from a police line. She told 9News later that she was safe and unharmed. New York Post photographer Toby Canham was overlooking the 101 freeway when he was hit. He spent Monday in the hospital with whiplash and neck pain, and left with a red mark on his forehead. Shortly before he was shot, he said he saw someone throwing a water bottle with liquid at authorities. 'I completely understand being in the position where you could get injured,' Canham said. 'But at the same time, there was no justification for even aiming the rifle at me and pulling the trigger, so I'm a bit pissed off about that, to be honest.' Ben Camacho, a reporter at the local news website The Southlander, reported being shot twice. 'Unsure of what hit me both times but they hit like a sledgehammer and without immediate warning,' he wrote online. 'Elbow is wrapped with gauze and knee is weak.' Photojournalist Nick Stern was standing near some people waving a Mexican flags when he was shot in the thigh. He later had emergency surgery. 'I thought it was a live round because of the sheer intensity of the pain,' he told the AP. 'Then I passed out from the pain.' Lexis Olivier-Ray of L.A. Taco, an alternative independent media platform, thought he was safely positioned with some television crews but instead had pepper balls shot at him. Some reporters may have taken less care: one posted a clip from film he shot about 10 yards (9.1 meters) from a police officer with a rifle pointed at him. Not all of the incidents involved law enforcement. AP photographer Jae Hong was kicked and hit with sticks by protesters on Monday, his protective gear enabling him to escape injury. A Los Angeles TV reporter and her crew were forced away by demonstrators, one loudly yelling, 'get out of here.' CNN aired video of its correspondent, Jason Carroll, and his crew with their hands behind their backs being led away from a protest by officers. They were later released. In many past conflicts, journalists had a measure of protection because opposing sides wanted them to record their side of the stories, Shapiro said. Now many journalists are seen as superfluous by people who have other ways of delivering their messages, or a target by those who want to spread fear, he said. It illustrates the importance of proper training and protection, he said. For reporters in the middle of the story now, they should plan carefully — being aware of exit routes and safe zones, working in tandem with others and in constant communication with their newsrooms. 'We need everyone from major news outlets to television to citizen journalists,' he said. 'We need them on the street. But we need them to be safe.' AP correspondent Jake Offenhartz in Los Angeles contributed to this report. David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at and
India Today
12 hours ago
- India Today
Trump hints at invoking Insurrection Act as LA protest turns violent
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he is prepared to invoke the Insurrection Act -- a rarely used and controversial law that allows domestic deployment of the US military -- if unrest continues in Los Angeles, where protests have erupted over his immigration enforcement."If there's an insurrection, I would certainly invoke it. We'll see," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, defending his decision to send thousands of National Guard troops and 700 active-duty Marines to the streets of LA. "Last night was terrible, and the night before that was terrible," Trump federal response, which includes a $134 million deployment cost, has drawn fierce criticism from California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. Newsom accused the president of overstepping legal authority and turning troops into political pawns. "It's a blatant abuse of power," Newsom posted on X. The clash between state and federal leaders intensified after Trump deployed troops without Newsom's consent -- the first such move in decades -- prompting a lawsuit from California. Trump, however, doubled down, claiming the city would be 'burning' without federal intervention."They will stay until there's no danger," Trump said of the troops. "We're not going to let these places turn into lawless zones."advertisementHowever, city officials said most of the demonstrations have been peaceful. Mayor Bass confirmed more than 100 arrests but said, "ANYONE who vandalised or looted does not care about our immigrant communities."Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem vowed further raids, fuelling protest momentum nationwide. Demonstrators in LA and other cities continue to rally outside detention centres, demanding the release of immigrants and denouncing federal crackdowns. With inputs from Reuters
