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Paige Herwig

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Paige Herwig is an attorney and former legal staffer serving in the United States Congress and Executive Branch. 1 A graduate of Yale Law School, Herwig has worked for prominent Democratic politicians including Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and President Barack Obama. 2

While working under Attorney General Lynch, Herwig helped edit talking points for the Obama Administration’s response to a tarmac meeting in 2016 between Lynch and former President Bill Clinton that preceded the announcement that Democratic Presidential nominee (and Bill’s spouse) Hillary Clinton would not face charges for alleged offenses relating to her use of a private email server for government business. 3 Herwig also worked as deputy chief counsel for Demand Justice, a left-of-center “dark money” organization that opposes Republican judicial nominees, most notably Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2018. 4

Early Career

After finishing law school, Herwig worked as a fellow at the National Women’s Law Center and as a law clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. 5 In 2008, she accepted an unpaid fellowship with the Senate Judiciary Committee under then-Chairman Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), which led to a full-time position on Senator Amy Klobuchar’s (D-MN) staff as Chief Counsel. 6

Herwig joined the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Policy in 2011. In 2013, she left the Justice Department for the Obama White House and served as Special Assistant to the President and Associate Counsel to the President. 7

Clinton Tarmac Incident

In 2015, President Barack Obama appointed Loretta Lynch as U.S. Attorney General and Herwig returned to the Justice Department as Counselor to the Attorney General. 8 Emails obtained by the right-leaning American Center for Law and Justice indicate Herwig helped edit Obama administration talking points about the 2016 tarmac meeting in Phoenix between former President Bill Clinton and Attorney General Lynch. 9 10 A few days after the meeting, then-FBI Director James Comey announced that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would not be indicted on charges related to her use of private email servers for government business. 11

Herwig returned to the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2017 where she served as the minority party’s Deputy General Counsel under Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). 12 The Washington Examiner noted Herwig would have knowledge of the committee’s investigation of former Attorney General Lynch’s potential influence of the FBI’s decision not to indict Secretary Clinton the previous year. 13

Demand Justice 

Herwig was one of the first staff members to join Demand Justice, a left-of-center advocacy organization founded by Brian Fallon, a former spokesman for Attorney General Eric Holder. 14 Demand Justice is a project of the Sixteen Thirty Fund, a “dark money” fundraising organization, which has received financial support from left-of-center organizations such as Planned Parenthood, the National Education Association, and NextGen Climate Action. 15 16 17 18

According to the New York Times, Demand Justice was founded to organize progressive political opposition to Republican nominations to the federal judiciary. 19 During Herwig’s tenure, Demand Justice launched a campaign to stop the 2018 confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court just hours after his nomination by President Donald Trump. 20 The StopKavanaugh.com campaign website developed by Demand Justice accused the nominee of being “anti-health care” and a “rubber stamp” for the President’s agenda. 21

In July 2018, Senate Judiciary Ranking Member Diane Feinstein allegedly received an anonymous letter accusing Kavanaugh of “attempted rape.” 22 Christine Blasey Ford was later identified as the accuser after the letter was leaked in September 2018, just days before Kavanaugh’s potential confirmation vote. 23 Herwig’s LinkedIn profile indicates she left Demand Justice in August 2018, the month before Blasey Ford’s identity was disclosed. 24 

Facebook

Herwig began working for Facebook in 2019, where she served in multiple roles, including as the director of governance and strategic initiatives, until June 2020. 25

Biden Administration

Paige Herwig serves a senior counsel under the Biden administration. 26 Demand Justice praised her nomination for how she will influence judicial nominations. 27

Personal

Herwig married Brian Fletcher, a former Assistant to the Solicitor General of the United States and graduate of Yale Law School. Fletcher currently serves as a co-director of the Supreme Court Litigation Clinic at Stanford University Law School. 28 29

References

  1. Herwig, Paige. LinkedIn. Accessed October 6, 2020. https://www.linkedin.com/in/paige-herwig-880a565/
  2. Herwig, Paige. LinkedIn. Accessed October 6, 2020. https://www.linkedin.com/in/paige-herwig-880a565/
  3. American Center for Law and Justice, E-mail chain about Clinton/Lynch meeting. Accessed October 7, 2020. http://media.aclj.org/pdf/Paige-Herwig-Edits-Clinton-Lynch-Documents.pdf
  4. Sperry, Paul. “How Feinstein is conspiring to destroy Kavanaugh.” New York Post. September 22, 2018. Accessed October 7, 2020. https://nypost.com/2018/09/22/how-feinstein-is-conspiring-to-destroy-kavanaugh/
  5. Herwig, Paige. LinkedIn. Accessed October 6, 2020. https://www.linkedin.com/in/paige-herwig-880a565/
  6. Yale Law School. “Working on Capital Hill.” October 2018. Accessed October 6, 2020. https://law.yale.edu/sites/default/files/area/department/cdo/document/cdo_working_on_capitol_hill_public.pdf
  7. Herwig, Paige. LinkedIn. Accessed October 6, 2020. https://www.linkedin.com/in/paige-herwig-880a565/
  8. Herwig, Paige. LinkedIn. Accessed October 6, 2020. https://www.linkedin.com/in/paige-herwig-880a565/
  9. American Center for Law and Justice. Accessed October 7, 2020. http://media.aclj.org/pdf/Paige-Herwig-Edits-Clinton-Lynch-Documents.pdf
  10. Crabtree, Susan. “Justice Officials Sent Talking Points to FBI on Lynch Tarmac Meeting With Bill Clinton.” The Washington Free Beacon. August 9, 2017. Accessed October 7, 2020. https://freebeacon.com/issues/justice-officials-sent-talking-points-fbi-lynch-tarmac-meeting-bill-clinton/
  11. Crabtree, Susan. “Justice Officials Sent Talking Points to FBI on Lynch Tarmac Meeting With Bill Clinton.” The Washington Free Beacon. August 9, 2017. Accessed October 7, 2020. https://freebeacon.com/issues/justice-officials-sent-talking-points-fbi-lynch-tarmac-meeting-bill-clinton/
  12. Crabtree, Susan. “Justice Officials Sent Talking Points to FBI on Lynch Tarmac Meeting With Bill Clinton.” The Washington Free Beacon. August 9, 2017. Accessed October 7, 2020. https://freebeacon.com/issues/justice-officials-sent-talking-points-fbi-lynch-tarmac-meeting-bill-clinton/
  13. Shepherd, Todd. “Attorney for Loretta Lynch at Justice Department now at committee investigating Lynch.” Washington Examiner. August 9, 2020. Accessed October 7, 2020. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/attorney-for-loretta-lynch-at-justice-department-now-at-committee-investigating-lynch
  14. Fallon, Brian. LinkedIn. Accessed October 7, 2020. https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-fallon-80a708a6/
  15. Bland, Scott and Severns, Maggie. “Documents reveal massive ‘dark-money’ group boosted Democrats in 2018.” Politico. November 11, 2019. Accessed October 7, 2020. https://www.politico.com/news/2019/11/19/dark-money-democrats-midterm-071725
  16. Planned Parenthood Action Fund. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). 2017. Schedule I, Part II. Accessed October 7, 2020. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/133539048/201940569349300819/IRS990ScheduleI
  17. National Education Association of the United States. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). 2016. Schedule I, Part II. Accessed October 7, 2020. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/530115260/201821929349300307/IRS990ScheduleI
  18. NextGen Climate Action. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). 2018. Schedule I, Part II. Accessed October 7, 2020. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/461957345/201933189349314168/IRS990ScheduleI
  19. Hulse, Carl. “After Garland Defeat, New Group Hopes to Draw Democrats to Judicial Battlefield.” New York Times. May 3, 2018. Accessed October 7, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/03/us/politics/merrick-garland-judicial-trump.html
  20. Demand Justice (@WeDemandJustice). “BREAKING: Trump just announced his nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.” Twitter. July 9, 2018. Accessed October 7, 2020. https://twitter.com/WeDemandJustice/status/1016491204786184192
  21. Stop Kavanaugh. Accessed from the original October 7, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20180901112530/https://www.stopkavanaugh.com/
  22. Sperry, Paul. “How Feinstein is conspiring to destroy Kavanaugh.” New York Post. September 22, 2018. Accessed October 7, 2020. https://nypost.com/2018/09/22/how-feinstein-is-conspiring-to-destroy-kavanaugh/
  23. Sperry, Paul. “How Feinstein is conspiring to destroy Kavanaugh.” New York Post. September 22, 2018. Accessed October 7, 2020. https://nypost.com/2018/09/22/how-feinstein-is-conspiring-to-destroy-kavanaugh/
  24. Herwig, Paige. LinkedIn. Accessed October 6, 2020. https://www.linkedin.com/in/paige-herwig-880a565/
  25. Herwig, Paige. LinkedIn. Accessed October 6, 2020. https://www.linkedin.com/in/paige-herwig-880a565/
  26. Executive Branch Personnel Public Financial Disclosure Report (OGE Form 278e). whitehouse.gov. 2021. Paige Herwig White House Financial Disclosure.
  27. “Demand Justice Praises Biden Selection of Judicial Nominations Expert Paige Herwig.” Demand Justice, February 26, 2021. https://demandjustice.org/demand-justice-praises-biden-selection-of-judicial-nominations-expert-paige-herwig/.
  28. Yale Debate Association. Alumni News. Accessed October 6, 2020.  http://www.yaledebate.org/alumni.html
  29. Stanford Law School. Brian Fletcher. Accessed October 7, 2020.  https://law.stanford.edu/directory/brian-fletcher/
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