Marc Kasowitz Writes Angry Emails And Everyone Completely Overreacts

Kasowitz didn't owe anyone any apologies for his email.

Marc Kasowitz (screenshot via YouTube)

When a random stranger emailed Marc Kasowitz with the subject line,“Resign Now,” apparently Kasowitz knew that he had the tools and talent to discover exactly who his critic was! Even though it’s easier than ever before to anonymize oneself on the internet, Kasowitz must have had every confidence in his ability to backward-navigate all the potentially obscuring cover and make a positive identification. Then, just to show this stranger that the Kas is a master of email, he sent a good natured reply:

Oh. Well then.

It’s unclear what the most interesting wrinkle is here. It could be that before this email he sent the simple message “F*ck you,” complete with asterisk, which… why? But I think the “Watch your back , bitch,” with the unnecessary added space you’d expect from the Predisent’s attorney, is the real winner here.

When this story broke yesterday afternoon, we received this statement from a spokesperson:

Mr. Kasowitz, who is tied up with client matters, said he intends to apologize to the writer of the email referenced in today’s ProPublica story.  While no excuse, the email came at the end of a very long day that at 10 pm was not yet over.   “The person sending that email is entitled to his opinion and I should not have responded in that inappropriate manner,” Mr. Kasowitz said.  “I intend to send him an email stating just that.  This is one of those times where one wishes he could reverse the clock, but of course I can’t.”

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An apology? Really? I get that this is kind of pro forma in these situations, but Kasowitz didn’t owe this person anything. Oh, he was mean to someone? I can’t believe a major law firm attorney was — gasp! — mean to someone. You’re writing the lawyer for the president, put on some big kid pants! Did the guy expect Kas to respond, “Golly, I didn’t think of it that way before”?

There was some buzz about whether or not the email exchange constituted harassment, which is dumb. If Kasowitz emailed someone unsolicited and told them to “watch their back,” then that would come across as threatening, but as a response to someone calling him out — who cares? Look, we’ve had some fairly tough criticism of Kasowitz in these pages, but if we slid into his inbox and told him to resign he’d be well within his rights to hurl some invective.

Someone yapped at Kasowitz, and Kasowitz swung back. It probably wasn’t the most prudent thing to say in an email exchange because — as the Trump administration is starting to realize — those are permanent records of one’s mistakes, but everyone needs to chill out and let a guy be human here. The only person who should care about this is Trump, who would have a legitimate complaint that his lawyer caused so much unnecessary negative attention, but Trump’s whole political strategy seems to be “create as much unnecessary negative attention as possible to numb the audience,” so he probably doesn’t even care. This Roy Cohn impersonation might even salve the reportedly strained client relationship.

That said, Kasowitz probably should resign from this nightmare of a representation. I don’t mind being told to f*ck off on that one.

Trump Lawyer Marc Kasowitz Threatens Stranger in Emails: ‘Watch Your Back, Bitch’ [ProPublica]
Trump Lawyer Marc Kasowitz Will Apologize After Sending Email Threats [New York Times]

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Earlier: Marc Kasowitz Takes Break From Partying At Trump Hotel To Talk To The Press
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Marc Kasowitz Is Waking Up To A Bad Morning
When People Start Writing About You Destroying Your Firm, Things Aren’t Going Well


HeadshotJoe Patrice is an editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.