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    'I Was Speechless': Law Firm Investigated Its Own Ex-Client For Trump VOA Chief

    Over nearly 5 months, McGuireWoods earned well over $2 million in taxpayer money to investigate The Open Technology Fund at the behest of Trump-appointed CEO Michael Pack.
    by David Folkenflik Mar 10, 2021 9 minutes
    In June 2020, Libby Liu announced she would step down as head of the Open Technology Fund the following month. Newly appointed U.S. Agency for Global Media CEO Michael Pack fired her anyway, effective immediately.

    Early last June, the Open Technology Fund was scrambling for survival. The nonprofit fosters technology that enables people who live under repressive regimes to communicate securely. It is wholly dependent on the U.S. government for money. And the new CEO of the federal agency that subsidizes the fund had declared war on it.

    So Lauren Turner, the fund's general counsel, turned to a familiar name for help: the powerhouse law firm McGuireWoods. The firm had been advising the fund pro bono, or without charge, for several months. Its lawyers met with the fund's board and president to discuss a potential lawsuit against the federal agency.

    And then, word came down from the law firm's headquarters in Richmond, Virginia: McGuireWoods would not represent the fund in this matter. Senior partners suggested the case might be too political, according to three people with knowledge.

    Eight weeks later, the firm made an about-face. McGuireWoods signed a confidential, no-bid contract with the man threatening to take away the nonprofit's money for the year: U.S. Agency for Global Media CEO Michael Pack, an appointee of former President Donald Trump. The agency also oversees Voice of America and other international networks sponsored by the federal government.

    Led by a politically connected partner who has friends in common with Pack, the law firm would undertake an investigation of the Open Technology Fund. The Open Technology Fund would not learn of McGuireWoods' role until December, when Pack invoked the law firm's investigation in an attempt to bar

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