Trump targets prominent Democratic-linked law firm

[highplainsdem]

Source: Politico

President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order targeting Perkins Coie, a prominent Seattle-based law firm that regularly represents Democratic and liberal groups.

The executive order suspends security clearances for employees of the law firm, which has long provided legal work for the Democratic National Committee, other Democratic entities and Democratic campaigns, including Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.

The firm was central to the commissioning of the infamous “Steele dossier,” which was published shortly before Trump was inaugurated in 2017. Former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele was commissioned by Fusion GPS, a research firm that had been hired by Perkins Coie, to dig up information about Trump’s business relationships overseas.

“This is an absolute honor to sign. What they’ve done is, it’s just terrible,” Trump said as he signed the order. “Weaponization — you could say weaponization against a political opponent — and it should never be allowed to happen again.”

-snip-

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/06/trump-security-clearance-steele-dossier-025203

[wolfie001]

1. Get the WH back and this means jack shit

[Qutzupalotl]

3. Why are you weaponizing yourself? Stop weaponizing yourself!

Gaslighting as high art, or utter lack of self-awareness.

[Ms. Toad]

4. Irony is dead. n/t

[AmericaUnderSiege]

5. Targeting a law firm is a move we would write for this Nazi imbecile.

The script is already written. He will be forced to escalate to more and more law firms, and then judges, and soon he's sending random protesters to military courts, which of course will disappoint him, so he'll go after them too. The outcome will surprise no one. Why is this so hilarious to me?

[mahatmakanejeeves]

6. More links

Trump signs order suspending security clearances for employees of Perkins Coie, citing DEI practices

By Samantha Waldenberg, Katelyn Polantz and Devan Cole, CNN
Published 11:06 PM EST, Thu March 6, 2025


President Donald Trump speaks before signing executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House on March 06, 2025 in Washington, DC.

(CNN) — President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday suspending the security clearances of employees at Perkins Coie, citing the law firm’s diversity, equity and inclusion practices.

“This is an absolute honor to sign,” the president said in the Oval Office.

Perkins Coie has long been among the private Washington law firms most known for its work in Democratic Party politics. For several years, elections lawyer Marc Elias, who coordinated legal efforts for many Democratic campaigns and the party itself, was with the firm, which still handles legal work for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

{snip}

ADDRESSING RISKS FROM PERKINS COIE LLP
EXECUTIVE ORDER
March 6, 2025

{snip}

[mahatmakanejeeves]

7. The EO is trying to destroy Perkins Coie by eliminating its client base. It's designed to put the firm out of business.

Reposted by Mike Masnick

‪Corey Rayburn Yung‬ ‪@coreyryung.bsky.social‬
·
3h
People have really been overlooking the first point. The EO is trying to destroy Perkins Coie by eliminating its client base. Any company that has a federal contract cannot do business with the firm. This is a targetted revenge attack designed to put a law firm out of business.

https://bsky.app/profile/coreyryung.bsky.social/post/3ljsek3bxy22h

‪Adam Bonin‬ ‪@adambonin.bsky.social‬
·
4h
There's two aspects of Trump's EO directed at Perkins Coie which I feel aren't getting sufficient attention:
➡️It targets not only the firm but any federal contractors working *with* the firm.
➡️It directs DOJ/EEOC to investigate *all* large firms which are trying to diversify the profession.

Addressing Risks from Perkins Coie LLP
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1. Purpose. The
www.whitehouse.gov

https://bsky.app/profile/adambonin.bsky.social/post/3ljsdd77ejk2u

[LetMyPeopleVote]

8. MaddowBlog-Jamie Raskin calls the White House's campaign against law firms 'dangerous as hell'

When Donald Trump signed an executive order targeting a private law firm, it was seen as an outrageous abuse. It didn’t stop him from doing it again.
https://bsky.app/profile/deec00p1953.bsky.social/post/3ljt4xsyrt22v

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/jamie-raskin-calls-white-houses-campaign-law-firms-dangerous-hell-rcna195392

Donald Trump and his team weren’t content to simply go after former special counsel Jack Smith, they also targeted career Justice Department officials who worked on Smith’s team. There was no evidence they’d done anything wrong or failed to do their jobs effectively, but they were a stop on the president’s revenge tour......

And then he did it again. The Washington Post reported:

In an Oval Office ceremony, the president signed an executive order hitting the large international law firm Perkins Coie with a sweeping directive that bans the federal government from hiring it, or from using contractors who work with it, except in limited circumstances. The order also bars Perkins Coie employees from entering federal buildings and suspends their security clearances.

In politics, Perkins Coie is known for, among other prominent things, representing Hillary Clinton.

The Post’s report added, “The move could have a chilling effect on law firms’ willingness to take on clients and cases that run counter to the Trump administration, challenging a fundamental tenet of the rule of law in the United States that everyone should have access to legal representation, experts said.”

Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, issued a statement describing the White House’s campaign as “dangerous as hell.”.....

The Democratic congressman concluded, “By threatening to seek costs and damages from private litigants, Donald Trump is trying to scare Americans out of court. Thanks to our Founders, we have a right to get lawyers to challenge the Administration’s blatantly unlawful efforts to freeze funds to essential government programs like wildfire prevention, scientific research and food assistance. We have a right to get brave lawyers to challenge MAGA and DOGE when they fire thousands of government workers and shut down agencies that defend American consumers against frauds and scams.”

Time will tell how and whether the relevant firms respond to the Republican’s offensive, but Raskin’s point is a good one. Circling back to our recent coverage, I can appreciate why many have grown inured — to Trump’s pettiness, to his abuses, to his fixation on retaliatory revenge, etc. — but it’s worth pausing to appreciate that steps like these aren’t supposed to be part of politics in the United States. The president is using the power of his office to punish private law firms, not because they did something improper or illegal, but because he disapproves of the firms taking on matters that affected him personally.

Mark Zaid, a Washington lawyer who also had his security clearance revoked by Trump, told the Times last week that the president’s first executive order on this was “a disgraceful affront to the entire legal and national security system.”

The fact that Trump then did it again makes matters vastly worse.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

9. One reason trump is mad at Perkins Coie-this firm and Mark Elias collected and reviewed 7000 trump's lawsuits

I have been volunteering on voter protection efforts since 2004 where I went to Florida as part of the Kerry Edwards Voter Protection team. In 2016 I was part of the Clinton Victory Counsel team that was led by Marc Elias and Perkins Coie. I still remember having to sign a confidentiality agreement as part of my efforts.

One of the efforts that I worked on was the review of 7,000 trump lawsuits. Perkins Coie put all of the pleadings in these lawsuits into a database where volunteer attorneys reviewed the pleadings and did summaries for use in opposition research. I remember reviewing pleadings for over 100 lawsuits and doing summaries of these lawsuits.

I was pleased to see these summaries are in the DNC database.

Link to tweet

New from me: The DNC research team has mined thousands of lawsuits from 50 states as part of a massive new research trove on President Trump that will be weaponized through pols and reporters in key states.

https://www.axios.com/2019/09/08/democratic-national-committee-trump-2020-opposition-research

Inside Democrats' 2020 Trump war room

The DNC research team has mined thousands of lawsuits from nearly 50 states as part of a massive new trove on President Trump that will be weaponized through pols and reporters in key battlegrounds.

Why it matters: This new plan shows what Democrats think Trump's biggest vulnerabilities will be. And unlike in 2016, Trump now has a policy record.

Details: The research includes roughly 7,000 lawsuits, as well an extensive document detailing every time then-candidate Trump told supporters at his 2016 campaign rallies that Mexico would pay for the wall.

Marc Elias and Perkins Coie spent a great deal of time and money pulling all of the pleadings in all of these lawsuits. Trump is still mad at Elias and Perkins Coie for these efforts. trump evidently blames Elias and Perkins Coie for losing the 2020 election and is taking revenge now.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

10. Williams & Connally is representing Perkins Coie

This is a big deal

Link to tweet