President Donald Trump on Thursday stripped security clearances from a law firm linked to the 2016 election investigation into his ties to Russia.
‘This is an absolute honor to sign,’ said Trump as he put his signature on an Executive Order suspending clearance from staff at Perkins Coie.
‘What they’ve done is just terrible. It’s weaponization … you could say weaponization against a political opponent, and it should never be allowed to happen again.’
The firm has been a thorn in Trump’s side for years.
It is one of the major law outfits that have signed on to represent plaintiffs suing the Trump administration, just as it did during the president’s first term.
It was also linked to what Trump calls the ‘Russia hoax’ during the 2016 campaign, and was a key part of the effort to dig up dirt on the then candidate’s, including any secret ties to Moscow and what became known as the ‘Steele Dossier.’
The firm acted for Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic Party in contracting a research firm called Fusion GPS, which in turn hired a former MIF officer to investigate.
Christopher Steele’s dossier was packed with salacious claims.
President Donald Trump signed executive orders in the Oval Office on Thursday
Former MI6 officer Christopher Steele was hired to dig into Trump’s contacts in Russia
It cited sources who said there was a ‘well-developed conspiracy of coordination’ between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin, and that Russia had ‘kopromat’ including a tape of Trump with prostitutes.
However, its claims were never corroborated and it has become a byword among Trump’s supporters for the way the president was hounded through the courts by opponents.
In the meantime, Perkins Coie is representing plaintiffs suing the Trump administration over restrictions on transgender people in the military service.
Elon Musk, the tech billionaire who has taken on a central role in the administration, put law firms on notice last month.
He asked on X: ‘Which law firms are pushing these anti-democratic cases to impede the will of the people?’
The order will suspend access to certain federal funding for the firm, and will launch a review of its diversity, equity and inclusion practices.
