• A&O Shearman says its deal with Trump includes nothing beyond the president's brief Truth Social post.
• Trump's posts don't explain how his deals with Big Law firms are supposed to be enforced.
• For A&O Shearman, at least, the terms remain vague.

For one of the Big Law firms that made a deal with President Donald Trump, it's the Truth Social, the whole Truth Social, and nothing but the Truth Social.

In a letter to Congress, A&O Shearman said Trump's 364-word Truth Social post constituted "the complete terms" of the deal. A&O Shearman and three other firms pledged $125 million each in free legal work toward Trump's political priorities, according to the post.

"The complete terms of the Agreement are as set forth in the four numbered paragraphs of the President's April 11, 2025 social media post," William E. White and William J.F. Roll III, the firm's co-general counsels, wrote in the May 8 letter.

Prior to A&O Shearman's letter to Congress, it was unclear whether any law firm had a written agreement spelling out the terms of the deals. A Justice Department lawyer, in litigation related to Trump's executive orders targeting law firms that didn't strike deals with Trump, has said in court that he didn't know whether any such agreements existed.

Several unresolved questions remain about the deals between the law firms and the White House, each of which Trump announced on his social media platform.

Do they have any enforcement mechanisms? How much time do the law firms have to fulfill their pledges? Who would decide whether a particular case counted toward the pro bono hours? Which "outside counsel" would the firms be required to retain to advise on employment practices, as the agreements require? And do the deals actually constrain Trump from issuing an executive order targeting the firms?

In the letter to Congress, A&O Shearman said that an underlying agreement spelling out these details does not exist. It said it also resolved separate inquiries from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, whose Trump-appointed acting chairman had asked 20 Big Law firms about their diversity initiatives.

"Our Firm has no other agreements other than the EEOC settlement agreement," A&O Shearman's letter said. "Neither the Agreement nor the EEOC settlement agreement (which focuses only on employment law related matters) contains any limitations whatsoever on the Firm's ability to represent any existing or future client in any matter."

Victor Chen, a spokesperson for the EEOC, declined to provide Business Insider with copies of the agency's agreements with the law firms.

The nine law firms that made deals with Trump agreed to provide pro bono work for the administration, among other concessions.

A&O Shearman's letter came alongside correspondence from the other eight firms in response to questions from lawmakers about whether those deals are legal and ethical.

A&O Shearman jointly struck a deal with three other law firms — Kirkland & Ellis, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, and Latham & Watkins — to commit a total of $500 million in pro bono services, according to Trump's post.

Trump's Truth Social post said the law firms were expected to devote pro bono work toward combating antisemitism; "ensuring fairness in our Justice System"; and helping law enforcement, veterans, relatives of military members who have died in combat, and first responders.

"Our lawyers already do pro bono work in each of these areas — indeed, much of our lawyers' current and historical pro bono work centers on fairness in the justice system, and we have long represented veterans and victims of religious discrimination," A&O Shearman wrote in its letter.

The firm added that "no lawyer is required or expected to work on a pro bono matter they do not believe in."

Rep. Dave Min, a Democratic lawmaker who asked the Big Law firms about their deals with Trump, told Business Insider that such an agreement wouldn't be enforceable anyway.

Because Trump seems to have a different impression of what the deals provide, "these firms are all basically claiming that there was no meeting of the minds," meaning they can't be enforced, said Min, a former law professor who has lectured on the limits of settlements.

Spokespeople for each of the nine firms that made deals with Trump, which collectively pledged nearly $1 billion worth of free work, didn't respond to requests for comment.

In a statement, a White House spokesperson said the deals "could usher in a new era of merit and fairness in our justice system." The spokesperson did not respond to questions about the terms of the deals.

The May 8 letter from A&O Shearman came the same day a lawyer for the Justice Department said he wasn't aware of any written agreements between Trump and Big Law firms.

"I know of nothing beyond the generally publicly available information," Richard Lawson told US District Judge Loren AliKhan in a hearing for a lawsuit the firm Susman Godfrey brought against the Trump administration.

Susman Godfrey is among the four law firms that have not made a deal with Trump and were targeted by his executive orders that would strip employees of security clearances and ban them from federally owned buildings.

Each of the four firms sued the administration and won court orders blocking the implementation of Trump's orders.

• A DOJ lawyer said he doesn't know anything about written agreements between Trump and Big Law firms.
• Nine firms reached deals with Trump, which he announced on Truth Social.
• The posts are light on details and don't explain how the deals would be enforced.

A Justice Department lawyer said in federal court Thursday that he didn't know if President Donald Trump had written agreements with Big Law firms beyond what he has shared online.

"I know of nothing beyond the generally publicly available information," Richard Lawson said when US District Judge Loren AliKhan asked him about any written agreements.

Despite representing the Trump administration in court, Lawson said he didn't know about anything written down beyond "press releases" about the deals.

"I know of no other documents than that," he said. "That's not saying there isn't any, but I know of no other."

Nine Big Law firms have made deals with Trump, collectively pledging nearly $1 billion in pro bono hours toward his political priorities. As part of the deal, the firms avoided executive orders targeting them.

Thursday's hearing was over a lawsuit brought by Susman Godfrey, one of four law firms targeted by Trump.

In April, Trump issued an executive order that would have stripped Susman Godfrey attorneys of security clearances, cut the firm off from government contracts, and potentially barred lawyers from courthouses, post offices, and other government buildings.

AliKhan quickly issued a temporary restraining order blocking the implementation of Trump's order, and is weighing whether she would permanently block it.

For the nine firms that did come to an agreement with Trump, the terms appear to be vague.

Trump's Truth Social posts announcing each deal are only about 400 words long. They do not specify time horizons for pro bono donations, making it unclear how much work the firms could contribute during the remainder of Trump's term. And they do not include any details about reporting requirements for the promises firms made over diverse hiring practices.

Bloomberg Law reported earlier in May on copies of written agreements between the White House and four law firms: Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, and A&O Shearman. Those written agreements do not include any specific details on how they would comply with the deals, Bloomberg Law said.

The four firms also struck deals with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, whose chairman sent letters to 20 law firms inquiring about their diversity practices. Outside counsel for the four firms said they would submit "a confidential written certification" every four months through the end of Trump's term, according to Bloomberg Law.

When asked about the written agreements, an EEOC spokesperson told Business Insider, "We don't have anything for you on this."

Neither the White House nor the nine law firms that made deals with Trump have provided information about potential underlying agreements.

Representatives for the White House did not respond to requests for comment about the deals.

None of the nine firms that struck deals responded to requests for comment about written agreements with Trump.

• Luigi Mangione has been charged with murder in UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson's killing.
• Mangione, an Ivy League graduate from a wealthy family, left an online trail before his arrest.
• He founded an app, talked about AI on X, and read the Unabomber Manifesto.

Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old Ivy League graduate charged with murder in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, has a vast online trail.

Police arrested Mangione in Pennsylvania on December 9. He initially faced local gun and forgery charges. He's expected to be extradited to New York.

New York court documents show that in addition to one count of murder, he also faces two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, one count of second-degree possession of a forged document, and one count of third-degree criminal possession of a firearm.

Here's what to know about Mangione.

Mangione attended elite schools

Mangione graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2020.

He achieved a Bachelor of Science in engineering with a major in computer science and a minor in mathematics. He also received a Master of Science in engineering the same year with a major in computer and information science, a university spokesperson told Business Insider.

Before that, he attended Gilman School, an elite all-boys preparatory school in Baltimore. His yearbook entry, obtained by BI, says he was involved in robotics and Model United Nations.

In his valedictorian speech, Mangione praised classmates for "challenging the world" and thanked parents for sending their children to the fee-paying school, which he described as "far from a small financial investment."

He favorably reviewed the Unabomber Manifesto

On Goodreads, Mangione reviewed Ted Kaczynski's "Industrial Society and Its Future" book, also known as The Unabomber Manifesto, in early 2024. He gave it four out of five stars.

"He was a violent individual — rightfully imprisoned — who maimed innocent people," Mangione wrote. "While these actions tend to be characterized as those of a crazy luddite, however, they are more accurately seen as those of an extreme political revolutionary."

Mangione's review of the manifesto also quoted another online comment about the book, which appears to have originated on Reddit, praising the use of violence "when all other forms of communication fail."

"'Violence never solved anything' is a statement uttered by cowards and predators,'" Mangione quoted.

He founded an app and worked in tech

In 2015, while in high school, Mangione founded a company called AppRoar Studios. AppRoar released an iPhone game called "Pivot Plane" that's no longer available, but a reviewer in 2015 said it was "a fun little arcade game brought to you by 3 high school juniors."

He lived in a co-living space in Hawaii as recently as 2023.

He posed for photos indicating he participated in Greek life at the University of Pennsylvania.

The fraternity chapter represented in his photos couldn't be reached for comment.

A blog post on the University of Pennsylvania's website that was removed on December 9 said he cofounded a video game design club there.

Stephen Lane, a professor of video game design at the Ivy League university who didn't advise the club, told BI that "the fact he took the initiative and started something from nothing, that means at least in the context of Penn, that's a pretty good thing." He added, however, that Thompson's shooting was "obviously not a good thing."

Mangione's LinkedIn page says he worked as a data engineer at the vehicle shopping company TrueCar starting in 2020.

A TrueCar spokesperson told BI that Mangione hadn't worked for the company since 2023.

Online breadcrumbs and roommate say he dealt with back pain

At the top of Mangione's profile on X — formerly Twitter — is a triptych of three images: a photo of himself, smiling, shirtless on a mountain ridge; a Pokémon; and an X-ray with four pins or screws visible in the lower back.

The Pokémon featured in his cover image is Breloom, which has special healing abilities in the games.

Some of the books reviewed on Mangione's Goodreads account are related to health and healing back pain, including "Back Mechanic: The Secrets to a Healthy Spine Your Doctor Isn't Telling You" and "Crooked: Outwitting the Back Pain Industry and Getting on the Road to Recovery."

R.J. Martin, the founder of the co-living space in Hawaii, told the Honolulu Civil Beat that Mangione had suffered back pain from a misaligned vertebra that was pinching his spinal cord.

Martin told CNN that after leaving Hawaii, Mangione texted him to say he'd undergone surgery and sent him X-rays.

"It looked heinous, with just, giant screws going into his spine," Martin told the outlet.

It's not immediately clear whether the surgery was related to UnitedHealthcare.

Josiah Ryan, a spokesperson for the co-living space founder, told The Wall Street Journal that Mangione stopped replying to texts about six months ago and "sort of disappeared."

A YouTube spokesperson said that the platform had terminated Mangione's three accounts, adding that they had not been active for about seven months.

A senior police official told NBC New York on December 12 that Magione was never a UnitedHealthcare client and may have targeted Thompson because of the insurer's large size and outsize power. That same day, The Wall Street Journal reported that a company spokesperson said Magione was not a client.

Mangione was interested in AI

On his X account, Mangione posted and amplified posts about technological advances such as artificial intelligence. He also posted about fitness and healthy living.

He frequently reposted posts by the writer Tim Urban and the commentator Jonathan Haidt about the promise and perils of technology.

He also appeared to be a fan of Michael Pollan, known for his writing about food, ethics, and lab-grown meat.

On Goodreads, he praised Urban's book "What's Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies," describing it as "one of the most important philosophical texts of the early 21st century."

Urban posted to X on December 9: "Very much not the point of the book."

He was previously accused of trespassing

Before his arrest, Mangione had at least one encounter with the legal system. Hawaiian court records indicate that in 2023, he was accused of entering a forbidden area of a state park.

Mangione appears to have paid a $100 fine to resolve the matter.

Mangione comes from a wealthy and influential Baltimore family

Mangione is one of 37 grandchildren of the late Nick Mangione Sr., a prominent multimillionaire real-estate developer in Baltimore who died in 2008, The Baltimore Banner reported. Nick Mangione Sr. had 10 children, including Louis Mangione, Luigi Mangione's father.

Members of the Mangione family own the Turf Valley Resort in Ellicott City, Maryland, and Hayfields Country Club in Hunt Valley, Maryland.

One of Luigi Mangione's cousins is the Republican Maryland state legislator Nino Mangione, the Associated Press reported.

Representatives for Nino Mangione's office, in a statement to BI, declined to comment on the news of Luigi Mangione's arrest.

"Unfortunately, we cannot comment on news reports regarding Luigi Mangione," the statement read. "We only know what we have read in the media. Our family is shocked and devastated by Luigi's arrest. We offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson and we ask people to pray for all involved. We are devastated by this news."

The Mangione family has donated more than $1 million to the Greater Baltimore Medical Center, where all of Nick Mangione Sr.'s grandkids, including Luigi Mangione, were born, the Banner reported.

A public filing from 2022 for the nonprofit Mangione Family Foundation lists Louis Mangione as vice president.

He was arrested while on his laptop at a McDonald's, the police said

When the police in Altoona, Pennsylvania, responded to a McDonald's after a call about a suspicious person, they found Mangione sitting at a table looking at a silver laptop and wearing a blue medical mask, a criminal complaint said.

The complaint said that when asked for identification, Mangione gave police officers a New Jersey driver's license with the name "Mark Rosario."

When an officer asked Mangione whether he'd been to New York recently, he "became quiet and started to shake," the complaint said.

It added that Mangione correctly identified himself after officers told him he could be arrested for lying about his identity.

When asked why he lied, Mangione replied, "I clearly shouldn't have," the complaint said.

His motive is still not known, but police are analyzing his so-called manifesto

An internal NYPD report obtained by The New York Times said Mangione "likely views himself as a hero of sorts who has finally decided to act upon such injustices."

Mangione "appeared to view the targeted killing of the company's highest-ranking representative as a symbolic takedown and a direct challenge to its alleged corruption and 'power games,' asserting in his note he is the 'first to face it with such brutal honesty,'" according to the NYPD report by the department's Intelligence and Counterterrorism Bureau, the Times reported.

Moments before the December 10 extradition hearing began, Mangione, handcuffed and wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, shouted out to the press as Pennsylvania police escorted him into the courthouse.

Mangione yelled out something partially unintelligible, saying something was "completely out of touch" and "an insult to the American people." He also shouted that something was a "lived experience" as a group of officers led him into the courthouse.

NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told NBC New York that Mangione had prior knowledge that UnitedHealthcare would be having its annual conference in New York City.

Mangione has retained a high-profile New York attorney

Thomas Dickey emerged as Mangione's attorney in Pennsylvania after his arrest in Altoona on December 9.

During a December 10 hearing at Pennsylvania's Blair County Courthouse, Dickey told the judge that Mangione was contesting his extradition to New York City.

Dickey later told reporters that Mangione would plead not guilty to all the charges in Pennsylvania. During an interview with CNN, Dickey said he expected Mangione to plead not guilty to the second-degree murder charge in New York and that he hadn't seen evidence that authorities "have the right guy."

Karen Friedman Agnifilo will represent Mangione in New York, a representative for Agnifilo Intrater LLP confirmed to Business Insider on Sunday.

Friedman Agnifilo worked as the chief assistant district attorney at the Manhattan District Attorney's Office from 2014 to 2021. She pivoted to private practice in 2021.

Do you know Luigi Mangione? Have a tip? Reach out to [email protected].