US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday suspending security clearances and terminating federal contracts with the law firm Perkins Coie.
The executive order stated that all Perkins Coie contracts with the federal government shall be reviewed and that Perkins Coie personnel shall be limited from entering the federal buildings at times when “national security or interests of the United States” shall be threatened. Agency heads shall also refrain from hiring Perkins Coie attorneys for their contracting needs.
Trump stated in the order: “[I]n 2016 while representing failed Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Perkins Coie hired Fusion GPS, which then manufactured a false ‘dossier’ designed to steal an election.” Trump also cited Perkins Coie’s position in taking cases by “activist donors” to overturn election laws, including voter identification. He noted a case from the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit where Perkins Coie attorney Marc Elias incurred sanctions for failing to disclose a denied motion and violating their duty of candor to the court.
Trump also opposed Perkins Coie’s usage of quotas to ensure that racial minorities and other groups were considered in firm hiring practices, stating that the firm “racially discriminates against its own attorneys and staff, and against applicants.” The president noted his administration’s commitment to “ending discrimination under ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion policies,'” stating:
Those who engage in blatant race-based and sex-based discrimination, including quotas, but purposefully hide the nature of such discrimination through deceiving language, have engaged in a serious violation of the public trust. Their disrespect for the bedrock principle of equality represents good cause to conclude that they neither have access to our Nation’s secrets nor be deemed responsible stewards of any Federal funds.
A Perkins Coie spokesperson on Thursday said the executive order was “patently unlawful” and that the firm planned to challenge it.
Trump signed a memorandum on February 25 limiting security clearances to Covington and Burling, a firm that represented Special Counsel Jack Smith in his personal capacity while he served as counsel. Smith had led two investigations into Trump over efforts to interfere with the 2020 presidential election and the possession of highly classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago club.