The White House on Tuesday ordered the suspension of any active security clearances held by employees of the law firm representing Jack Smith, the special counsel who prosecuted the Justice Department’s cases against Donald Trump. The president appears to be moving full-steam ahead with his plan to pursue retribution against his political enemies.
A memo released by the Trump administration calls on the attorney general and other relevant department leads to revoke the security clearances of Peter Koski, a partner who is reportedly representing Smith, and “all members, partners, and employees of Covington & Burling LLP” who worked with him during his time as special counsel, “pending a review and determination of their roles and responsibilities, if any, in the weaponization of the judicial process.”
Koski, a former deputy chief of the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section, and Lanny Breuer, who once served as the department’s assistant attorney general for the Criminal Division, are the Covington lawyers representing Smith, according to CNN.
The White House also ordered a review of the law firm’s government contracts.
HuffPost has reached out to the law firm for comment.
Prior to Smith’s resignation, Covington & Burling provided him with $140,000 worth of pro bono legal services, according to disclosure obtained by Politico.
Trump signed the memo targeting Covington in front of TV crews and cameras in the Oval Office, calling it the “deranged Jack Smith signing.”
Trump then interrupted a reporter’s question on what he would say to people worried over the White House’s move to single out the law firm.
“Excuse me, I’ve been targeted for four years, longer than that. So you don’t tell me about targeting,” Trump said.
Go Ad-Free — And Protect The Free Press
Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.
Smith led the Justice Department’s two federal criminal cases against Trump involving his efforts to undo the results of the 2020 election and his alleged mishandling of classified documents. Trump has denied wrongdoing.
Both cases were dismissed following Trump’s November election victory over DOJ policy that prohibits prosecuting sitting presidents. Smith resigned from his role in the final weeks of the Biden administration after delivering a final report on his investigations. Only one volume of the report — the one relating to his findings in Trump’s federal election interference case — has been made public.
Earlier this month, Attorney General Pam Bondi launched a “Weaponization Working Group” set to probe, among other things, Smith and his staff’s work on Trump’s prosecutions.