The White House order stripped security clearances from two lawyers at Covington and said the firm should lose government contracts. It does not appear the firm has any pending contracts with federal agencies.
Covington has defended its work for Jack Smith, the special counsel.
Perkins Coie and Covington are among nearly a dozen prominent law firms that are representing clients in lawsuits challenging Trump administration policies and priorities, including its efforts to curtail immigration, agency grants and transgender rights.
Trump's order against Perkins Coie criticised the firm over its work for Clinton's 2016 presidential run.
Perkins Coie has long been criticised by some on the American right over its work with the Washington research firm Fusion GPS. Fusion paid a former British spy's company to assemble a dossier outlining Russian financial and personal links to Trump's 2016 election campaign.
Trump has denied the claims in the dossier, and he has more broadly disputed his campaign then had any ties to Russia. A US judge in Florida in 2022 dismissed a lawsuit Trump lodged against Clinton, Perkins Coie and others who claimed a conspiracy to rig the election.
The judge said Trump's lawsuit was a “political manifesto outlining his grievances against those who have opposed him” and lacked legal merit. An appeal is pending in the case.
Perkins Coie has also faced criticism over the work of one of its former partners, Michael Sussmann, who advised the 2016 Clinton presidential campaign.
Sussmann was acquitted in 2022 at trial on a charge that he lied to the FBI when he met with the bureau in 2016 to share a tip about a possible link between Trump's business and a Russian bank.
**Reuters**