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#Trump allies threaten #Deloitte contracts after employee shares #JDVance chats
#Republicans backing Trump are threatening Deloitte, a consulting firm that is one of the federal #government’s largest business partners, with the loss of billions of dollars in contracts because an employee shared messages from 2020 in which JD Vance criticized the Trump’s record.
#ethics #law
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/10/07/vance-messages-deloitte-retaliation/
On Sept 27, Donald Trump Jr. exposed the employee’s name & photograph to millions of people on social media, writing, “Maybe it’s time for the #GOP to end #Deloitte’s taxpayer funded gravy train?” Others — including #JDVance’s chief spox & a #Republican senator — circulated Trump Jr.’s comments, & the *#conservative* website #Breitbart published a story naming the man & highlighting his job.
Deloitte receives ~$3B annually from federal agencies including the HHS & DOD.
#Ethics experts said the episode is a potentially ominous preview of how a 2nd #Trump admin might use the enormous #power the federal govt wields over #private #industry to #punish #political acts by individual workers. Although federal #ContractLaw prohibits cutting off a business because of its workers’ private political views, such #threats could have a chilling effect, they said.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Kedric Payne, senior director of #ethics at the nonpartisan Campaign #Legal Center & fmr deputy chief #counsel in the Office of Congressional Ethics, adding that the goal was probably to pressure #Deloitte into firing the worker. “You can’t imagine that if one employee out of thousands made a statement that offended an official, that then the #government #contracts would be in jeopardy.”
On Sept 27, The Washington Post published a report about direct messages #JDVance sent during the final year of #Trump’s presidency to an acquaintance over social media…. Among other remarks, #Vance said in the messages that Trump had “thoroughly failed to deliver” on his economic agenda in the White House & predicted he would probably lose the election to Joe Biden.
WaPo agreed…that it would not name the messages’ recipient, Kevin Gallagher, because he was concerned about possible retaliation. However, Gallagher said WaPo could ID him later if he experienced reprisals from #Trump, #JDVance or their allies….
The episode is the latest bout of public #threats from Trump’s #MAGA movement. Trump has threatened to use the #DOJ to #jail his opponents, among other things, if he wins a 2nd term. Trump supporters on social media have urged that Gallagher be fired.
#Deloitte declined to address questions about how it has handled the situation & whether Gallagher has been subject to any internal discipline.
“This individual shared private personal messages on his own volition without the knowledge of Deloitte, which is a non-partisan firm,” the company said in a stmnt. “Deloitte is deeply committed to supporting our government & commercial clients & we have a long track record of doing so across parties & administrations.”
…#Deloitte has a PAC that in recent elections has distributed its spending across candidates in both parties. So far in the 2024 cycle, it has given approximately $1.3M to #Republicans and $1.2M to #Democrats, the company said.
#Trump Jr., through a spox, responded to questions for this report w/a written statement calling a Post reporter a “scumbag” [classy] & asserting that there was nothing inappropriate about the social media posts targeting Deloitte’s contracts.
The episode is the latest example of the ways in which #JDVance’s prolific digital correspondence in the years before he became a politician has come back to haunt him.
#Vance initiated his conversation w/Gallagher through a DM…in Oct 2019, praising an essay Gallagher had written the previous year about the interplay between Catholicism & politics…. Vance, who had become a public figure & commentator after the publication of his…memoir, was working…as a VC…& had…joined the Catholic Church.
Over the following 11 months, the pair corresponded intermittently, mostly about politics & current events. In one early exchange, #JDVance asked Gallagher what he did for a living; Gallagher replied that he was a consultant who worked with investment managers. Otherwise Gallagher did not discuss his professional life in the messages, & at no point in the exchanges that were shared…Post did he identify #Deloitte as his employer or discuss his clients.
#JDVance offered several opinions…that contradicted the public stances he would adopt as a politician. In Feb 2020, Vance wrote that “#Trump has just so thoroughly failed to deliver on his economic populism….” Trump’s wealthy donors, he added, would probably remain loyal…because he had served their interests….
Vance has acknowledged criticizing Trump in 2016 but said he changed his mind after seeing Trump in office. But the msgs show Vance still disparaging Trump near the end of his 1st term.
…#Deloitte probably would have a strong #legal case against efforts to revoke its federal #contracts because of Gallagher’s action, said Jessica Tillipman, associate dean for #government procurement #law studies at the George Washington Law School. Under govt procurement rules, only certain kinds of misconduct — such as fraud or tax evasion — can lead to a firm being barred from federal contracts, she said.
“This is not the Trump Organization deciding not to do business w/someone,” Tillipman said. “There are rules in place that are designed to ensure the #integrity & #fairness of the federal marketplace.”
@Nonilex unless SCOTUS is involved …
Those laws will be ignored if the Republicans win.
“This is not the Trump Organization deciding not to do business w/someone,” Tillipman said. “There are rules in place that are designed to ensure the #integrity & #fairness of the federal marketplace.”
@Nonilex I’m not sure if people, especially tech people realize how many people this would effectively silence, as their organizations are contractors, subcontractors, and subsidiaries for the USG.
@hacks4pancakes @Nonilex That sounds like the plan, all right.
@hacks4pancakes @Nonilex Including every professor at universities that take federal research money (which is all of them)
@Nonilex It does mean that Deloitte would be spending a lot of money on a lot of contract protest proceedings, though. Even if you win its a very bureaucratic process through GAO.
