WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday ordered the suspension of any security clearances held by lawyers at a prominent Washington law firm who provided legal services to special counsel Jack Smith, the latest move in the Republican’s campaign of retribution over the criminal investigations that dogged him before he returned to office.
Trump’s memo signed at the White House seeks to punish the law firm Covington & Burling days after it was revealed that the firm provided pro bono legal services to Smith, who charged Trump in two criminal cases that were later dismissed after Trump won back the presidency in November.
Covington & Burling is an international law firm whose current attorneys include former Attorney General Eric Holder and Lanny Breuer, an ex-Justice Department official who in 2010 hired Smith to lead the agency’s Public Integrity Section. The firm had no role in Smith’s investigation of Trump, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the situation.
The firm recently agreed to represent Smith “when it became apparent that he would become subject of a government investigation,” it said in a statement Tuesday.
“Covington serves as defense counsel to Jack Smith in his personal, individual capacity,” a spokesperson for the firm said. “We look forward to defending Mr. Smith’s interests and appreciate the trust he has placed in us to do so.”
The move is part of Trump’s effort to exact revenge on his perceived political enemies, and Smith in particular. After signing the directive, Trump suggested the pen he used be sent to Smith, eliciting laughter in the Oval Office.
It’s not the first time that Trump as president has sought to suspend clearances of Washington figures who have provoked his ire.
Last month, for instance, he moved to revoke the clearances of more than four dozen former intelligence officials who signed onto a letter who said the Hunter Biden laptop saga bore the hallmarks of a Russian disinformation campaign.
The memo directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to suspend any active security clearances held by Peter Koski, an attorney representing Smith, and “all members, partners, and employees” of Covington who assisted Smith during his time as special counsel. It says they will be suspended “pending a review and determination of their roles and responsibilities, if any, in the weaponization of the judicial process.”
Asked by a reporter Tuesday about the targeting of the law firm, Trump replied: “I’ve been targeted for four years, longer than that, so don’t you tell me about targeting. I was the target of corrupt politicians for four years and then four years after that, so don’t talk to me about targeting.”
A financial disclosure firm filed by Smith and reported on by Politico earlier this month revealed that Smith had disclosed receiving $140,000 in pro bono legal services from Covington & Burling before he left his position in January after more than two years on the job.
It follows the firings of members of Smith’s team and appears designed to deter lawyers and major law firms from offering legal services to the investigators who investigated Trump, many of whom — like Smith — have sought their own counsel from attorneys.
Bondi and other Republicans have argued the Justice Department under President Joe Biden had become “weaponized” against conservatives and Trump in particular. In one of her first actions in office, Bondi announced the creation of a “weaponization working group” that will examine Smith’s work and the prosecutors and law enforcement who participated in what Bondi’s memo described as the “unprecedented raid on President Trump’s home.”
Smith was appointed in November 2022 by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland to take over in-progress investigations into Trump’s hoarding of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Both investigations resulted in indictments, though the classified documents case was dismissed by a judge who concluded that Smith’s appointment was illegal and the election interference prosecution was significantly narrowed by a Supreme Court opinion last summer.
Smith dismissed both shortly after Trump’s election win in November, citing longstanding Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president.
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