In July 2018, U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) stood next to Rhode Island’s Attorney General, announcing that the law firm Sher Edling LLP will represent the state in a lawsuit against energy producers over the issue of climate change. Less than a year later, Senator Whitehouse filed an amicus brief on behalf of Sher Edling LLP, defending their California plaintiffs.

But Senator Whitehouse never spoke about another interesting detail: Victor Sher and Matt Edling, the two California lawyers representing most of the plaintiffs targeting energy companies in climate liability lawsuits across the country, started making thousand-dollar donations to Senator Whitehouse in late 2016 – almost two full years before the Rhode Island case was announced.

Read more at EID Climate.