Trump Goes After a Law Firm Just Because it Has Represented Democrats
Donald Trump has already targeted one top law firm in an attempt to deny Jack Smith, the duly appointed special counsel who was seeking to bring charges against Trump’s lawlessness, the right to legal representation. Trump revoked the firm’s security clearance, which will make it harder for the first to effectively represent Smith against the lawsuits filed by Trump’s allies. Now he has targeted another firm, Perkins Coie, for the crime of having represented members and supporters of the Democratic Party.
The Washington Post reports:
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.
The firm represented Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 presidential race, and it also contracted with the research firm that produced the now-discredited opposition dossier that alleged extensive contacts between Trump and Russia. …
A White House official said the move targeted Perkins Coie because of its track record on Trump.
“The president doesn’t believe they should have the privileges afforded to companies of their stature to work and operate with the federal government, since they have made it very clear they are vehemently against the president of the United States, and their work proves that,” a senior administration official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to talk frankly about the sensitive decision-making behind the order.
It is astonishing that Trump is so blatantly and brazenly abusing the power of his office to deter his opponents and critics. Hunting a firm providing legal services to an ideological rival not only strips his rivals of the means to defend themselves against motivated lawsuits but also helps to entrench himself in office by crippling the political opposition. This is the kind of thing one associates with Third World potentates.
The Executive Watch is a project of the Institute for the Study of Modern Authoritarianism, and its flagship publication The UnPopulist, to track in an ongoing way the abuses of the power of the American presidency. It sorts these abuses into five categories: Personal Grift, Political Corruption, Presidential Retribution, Power Consolidation, and Policy Illegality. Click the category of interest to get an overview of all the abuses under it.
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