Trump Orders Ban On Contracts With D.C. Law Firm Working With Jack Smith In Executive Order

President Donald Trump signed an executive order to suspend any security clearances held by lawyers at a major Washington, D.C. law firm that provided legal services to Special Counsel Jack Smith. The 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.

In January, Smith said in a memo that Trump would have been convicted had he not been reelected president.

The memo released by the White House states that all executive agencies are to suspend the clearances held by Smith’s attorney, Peter Koski, along with those of any other attorneys at the firm who assisted Smith as special counsel as the White House launches a “review and determination of their roles and responsibilities, if any, in the weaponization of the judicial process.” It also directs the Office of Management and Budget to “terminate any engagement” with the firm.

Covington & Burling is a global law firm with a roster of notable attorneys, including former Attorney General Eric Holder and Lanny Breuer, a former Justice Department official who appointed Smith to head the agency’s Public Integrity Section in 2010. The memo follows the administration’s efforts to target Trump’s political enemies, representing a heightened response from the White House against those who have backed the former special counsel’s efforts.

“We’re going to call it the deranged Jack Smith signing or bill,” Trump told reporters before the signing. 

Mark Zaid, a Washington lawyer who also had his security clearance revoked by Trump, told the New York Times that the executive order “is a disgraceful affront to the entire legal and national security system.” Security clearances give lawyers flexibility when working on cases involving national security issues and classified information.

A financial disclosure form filed by Smith earlier this month revealed that Smith reported receiving $140,000 in pro bono legal services from Covington & Burling prior to his departure in January.

The firm had no involvement in Smith’s investigation of Trump. In a statement from Covington, the firm said it agreed to represent Smith “when it became apparent that he would become subject of a government investigation.”

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Article by Angie Schlager