Left-wing nonprofit reportedly considering closing up shop amid Elon Musk lawsuit
When Elon Musk sued Media Matters in 2023, the law firm of Democratic super-lawyer Marc Elias swooped in to represent the liberal media group. It made little headway against the lawsuit before submitting millions of dollars in legal bills, prompting Media Matters officials to lash out at the firm as they faced financial ruin, according to a new report.
According to the New York Times, Elias Law Group originally represented Media Matters against Musk’s lawsuit, which accused the group of manipulating X posts to falsely link the social media platform to white nationalists and anti-Semites, part of what Musk alleged was “a ploy to drive advertisers from the platform and destroy X Corp.” The litigation and other legal fights with the attorneys general of several red states have left Media Matters with $15 million in legal costs, forcing the Democratic media juggernaut to consider laying off staff, filing bankruptcy, or shutting down altogether, the Times reported.
Elias Law hasn’t helped matters.
Media Matters officials, frustrated at Elias Law’s hefty legal bills, began shifting legal work for the case to other law firms, according to the Times. That prompted a blunt missive from Elias Law partner Ezra Reese in early February demanding payment of $4 million in unpaid legal fees. “We understand this case has been and remains very difficult for everyone involved, as was Musk’s intention when he brought it,” Reese wrote to Media Matters president Angelo Carusone and its chief fundraiser, Mary Pat Bonner.
Reese offered to slash the payment to $2.25 million if paid within a week. Otherwise, Elias Law would “go pens down and take steps to withdraw from the case by the end of the month,” the Times reported.
That upset Bonner, who replied: “You must be kidding!! This is how you treat people who have been clients for 16 years and are friends?”
Elias has maintained longtime ties to Media Matters, which Republican-turned-Democratic operative David Brock formed in 2003. Media Matters paid Elias Law Group $389,000 in legal fees in 2023, and $165,000 in 2022, according to tax filings.
The standoff could undercut Elias’s self-styled image as a progressive crusader who fights against Republicans at all costs.
It’s the latest black eye for Elias, who is perhaps best known for his role in spearheading the infamous Steele dossier on behalf of the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2016. The Democratic National Committee cut ties with Elias Law in 2023 over concerns about Elias’s legal strategies in voting rights litigation.
Elias has portrayed himself as a pro-democracy crusader willing to take on President Donald Trump and his allies at any cost. He has fumed at prominent law firms that struck deals with the White House after Trump threatened to pull security clearances for the lawyers, among other sanctions.
Elias has called lawyers at the firms Paul, Weiss and Skadden “cowards” for settling with Trump.
But that may be what Media Matters will do to end its legal fight with Musk. According to the Times, Media Matters has attempted to settle with Musk and X through its new legal team at Susman Godfrey.
X demanded that Media Matters pay all of the cash it has in the bank and shut down operations, the Times reported. Media Matters declined the offer.