President Trump said on Tuesday that he would strip security clearances from lawyers at a prominent Washington law firm aiding a former special counsel who investigated him and end any federal government work the firm may have, intensifying his bid to punish perceived rivals.
The proposal, signed by Mr. Trump on Tuesday, targeted the international white-shoe law firm Covington & Burling, which employs high-profile Democratic lawyers who worked in the Obama and Biden administrations.
Signing executive orders before reporters in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump described the plan to reporters and offered to send the pen he used to Jack Smith, who led investigations into Mr. Trump as special counsel.
The memo is a breathtaking escalation of Mr. Trump’s effort to employ the vast powers of the presidency against Mr. Smith and the team of prosecutors and federal law enforcement officials who worked for him, extending that campaign to those who have provided Mr. Smith pro bono legal representation.
According to a disclosure filed with the Justice Department shortly before resigning as special counsel ahead of Mr. Trump’s return to office, Mr. Smith, a former war crimes prosecutor, said that he had received $140,000 worth of free legal advice from Covington to help him prepare for investigations and legal action by Mr. Trump’s allies.
The directive ordered the administration to revoke any security clearance held by Peter Koski, the Covington lawyer representing Mr. Smith, and any other members of the firm who may have participated in such work.
In his first month in office, Mr. Trump has moved to bar a number of private citizens he dislikes from holding security clearances. In some cases, those people no longer had clearances or did not need them. In Mr. Koski’s case, the move could have more serious consequences. Revoking his clearance could limit his access to sensitive government records, given that both of Mr. Smith’s criminal investigations against Mr. Trump involved classified documents. Doing so could sharply limit what representation Mr. Koski might be able to offer.
Mark Zaid, a Washington lawyer who also had his security clearance revoked by Mr. Trump, called Tuesday’s action “vindictive and petty.”
Mr. Zaid said the news that more private practice lawyers may have had clearances revoked “without any due process, simply because they represented someone the president doesn’t like, is a disgraceful affront to the entire legal and national security system.”
Mr. Trump’s memorandum also instructed agency chiefs to cancel any Covington legal work on behalf of the government, though it is unclear whether the firm represents the United States on any matters. The memo also called for a review of any government contracts with Covington, though it is unclear whether there are any.
Covington is not a contractor for the federal government, according to a person familiar with the firm’s business.
A spokesman for the firm emphasized that it would defend Mr. Smith and his interests.
“For more than 100 years, Covington has represented clients facing government investigations, consistent with the best traditions of the legal profession,” the statement said. “We recently agreed to represent Jack Smith when it became apparent that he would become a subject of a government investigation. Covington serves as defense counsel to Jack Smith in his personal, individual capacity.”
Already the Trump administration has signaled that Mr. Smith would continue to be in its cross hairs.
This month, when Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the formation of her so-called Weaponization Working Group, a team devoted to scrutinizing those whom Mr. Trump considers to be his adversaries, she said the group would investigate Mr. Smith.
More recently, Ed Martin, the Trump-appointed interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, had issued an ominous warning on social media shortly after Mr. Smith’s filing.
“Save your receipts, Smith and Covington. We’ll be in touch soon. #NoOneIsAboveTheLaw,” wrote Mr. Martin, a right-wing political activist who supported Mr. Trump’s mass clemency for Capitol rioters.
As special counsel, Mr. Smith oversaw two criminal indictments against Mr. Trump in 2022. Those include investigations of Mr. Trump’s retention of classified documents after his first term and of his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Both cases were dismissed after Mr. Trump won re-election in November under a longstanding Justice Department policy that prohibits pursuing prosecutions of a sitting president.
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