Michael Barbaro

Broadly, this is the deal that every major law firm that has come to an agreement has reached with the president.

So what is your reaction to this deal when you finally digest it?

Can you just explain what precisely is making you feel the shame?

Can I ask you to read from parts of the letter?

What did it feel like to hit send?

I mean, listen to your breathing right now.

It's like you're reliving it.

What was it like to send that email?

I'm sure you're aware that many people who have spoken out against President Trump and his policies have experienced, at times, ferocious blowback.

It can be a life-altering event.

Is that something you're worried about now?

Many of your colleagues are not leaving their jobs.

They may feel the way you feel and have two kids they have to put through college.

They might not feel the way you feel.

I'm thinking about reporting my colleagues did inside the upper echelons of Paul Weiss when that law firm did a deal with Trump.

And it became clear that the majority of the people who run the firm, lots of them,

felt that the best thing to do was to make a deal to protect the thousands of people who work at these firms.

And that at the end of the day, what they're giving up

is small compared to that survival.

And the bosses at all these firms that end up capitulating to Trump say some version of, we are the same law firm after we did these deals as we were before.