Robert Kraft helped broker a deal between Trump and Paul Weiss. Now, the law firm's chair is supporting Josh Kraft for mayor.
Weeks later, on April 18, Karp and three other lawyers at his firm contributed $1,000, the maximum legal limit, to Josh Kraft's campaign, campaign finance records show.
A spokesperson for the Kraft Group said Robert Kraft was not involved in coordinating any donations from Paul Weiss attorneys to his son's campaign. The Kraft campaign said it did not reach out to any of the donors from the firm.
'Josh is grateful for the significant momentum and support the campaign has received since launching in February,' a spokesperson said.
The donations to Kraft's political campaign come as the
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Robert Kraft was a
Robert Kraft seemed to distance himself from Trump after the Jan. 6 insurrection,
Josh Kraft has said he has never voted for Trump or financially supported him, and earlier this year, called him 'unfit to be president due to his character and lack of emotional control.'
He has also emphasized that he differs with his father when it comes to his views on the president.
'I love my dad,' Josh Kraft said in February
Josh Kraft has said he is running as his own person, even asking voters to 'set aside any ideas they might have about me based on my
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Still, his father's ties to the president stand in stark contrast to the views of incumbent Mayor Michelle Wu, who has positioned herself as a fiery counterweight to the administration as its threats to yank federal funding
State Senator Lydia Edwards, a Democrat from Boston who has been an ally of Wu, said accepting funds from attorneys at a firm that 'capitulated' to Trump shows Kraft is out of touch with the city's needs and political leanings.
'If he really does care about the people of Boston, he needs to give the money back,' Edwards said. 'He is not a destitute first-time grassroots candidate that can't get the funds from someplace else.'
To be sure, the recent $4,000 from Paul Weiss attorneys is just a fraction of the more than
Still, the donations to Kraft are notable not just for their timing: None of the four Paul Weiss donors — Karp, Scott Barshay, Angelo Bonvino, and Gregory Ezring — live in Massachusetts, and none has ever given to a Boston mayoral candidate before, state campaign finance records show.
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Of the four, only Karp, the firm chairman,
has ever donated to a state-level candidate in Massachusetts. Karp has been a prolific donor to Democrats at the federal level, giving more than $100,000 last year to candidates, including Kamala Harris. But he has only rarely given to state-level candidates in Massachusetts; the most recent donation was in 2014 to former attorney general Martha Coakley, then the Democratic nominee for governor.
A spokesperson for Paul Weiss and the four donors at the firm did not immediately respond to questions Monday. The firm is also known locally for its role in the Patriots'
2015 Deflategate scandal:
Even as Josh Kraft has sought to distance himself from his father's politics, Robert Kraft has made it obvious he takes a keen interest in Boston's political leadership. (Josh Kraft has said he would
Robert Kraft has long been stymied by political opposition in Boston, most notably when he
Asked about his plans to build a soccer stadium in nearby Everett, Kraft added, 'We just need the political people and get all the agendas, putting [the] team first. And we hope it happens, but we can't force it.'
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Ben Volin of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
Emma Platoff can be reached at
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