The Pentagon had added DJI to the list in 2022 over what it characterized as the company’s ties to the People’s Liberation Army.
Former U.S. attorney general Loretta Lynch backed out of a blacklisted Chinese military company’s lawsuit against the Pentagon Wednesday, just ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. The Obama cabinet member’s work for Shenzhen DJI Technology had drawn significant criticism from Representative Elise Stefanik, who accused Lynch of betraying her country.
Lynch, a partner at the white-shoe law firm Paul Weiss, announced her withdrawal from the matter in a short filing in federal court on Wednesday. “Plaintiff will continue to be adequately represented by experienced counsel,” the withdrawal notice stated.
The other Paul Weiss lawyers on Lynch’s team for the lawsuit submitted similar withdrawal notices today. None of them gave further explanation of the firm’s decision to drop the client. Lawyers with another white-shoe law firm, Quinn Emanuel, submitted filings to the court today that they now represent the Chinese company.
A representative for Paul Weiss did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Lynch’s retreat from the lawsuit could reflect the reputational costs that accompanied her decision to represent a controversial firm alleged by the U.S. government to support China’s military and mass surveillance of ethnic minorities.
Stefanik blasted Lynch’s decision to represent the drone company in a statement to National Review soon after DJI brought the suit last month, saying that the former top prosecutor “has turned her back on her nation, selling out to our greatest adversary Communist China and suing the United States on behalf of CCP-owned drone company DJI.” The New York Republican’s legislation to block new DJI drone models from operating on U.S. telecommunication infrastructure recently passed the House of Representatives in a unanimous vote.
Her condemnation of Lynch’s role in the lawsuit was picked up in Fox News segments and by other media outlets.
DJI, a leading consumer drone company, sued the Pentagon in U.S. district court for the district of D.C. in October, alleging that its decision to add the firm to a list of Chinese military companies operating in the U.S. “violates the law and DJI’s due-process rights.”
The Pentagon had added DJI to the list in 2022 over what it characterized as the company’s ties to the People’s Liberation Army. While the Pentagon designation does not come with any specific penalties, Americans are blocked from exporting to and investing in DJI via two separate U.S. government blacklist designations.
Critics are concerned that its drones, popular with law enforcement agencies and hobbyists, could transmit data back to China. They also point to its partnerships with the authorities in the Xinjiang region, where the Chinese Communist Party is carrying out atrocities against ethnic Uyghurs. DJI rejects those accusations.
Lynch’s work for the company stretches back to at least July, when she wrote a letter to the Pentagon requesting the reversal of the DJI designation.
Former U.S. officials have faced reputational harm from their work for Chinese military-linked firms, with some congressional offices vowing this year to shut their doors to lobbying outfits who take them on as clients.