LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – President Donald Trump is issuing executive orders against large law firms he says have helped causes of the Democratic Party and is stripping them of their security clearance as well as ending all taxpayer contracts they may have had with the federal government.
Trump says in the executive order that the private firms have quotas for hiring and promotion on the basis of race and other categories prohibited by law.
Michigan ties.
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One of the firms has done election work within Michigan on behalf of the Democratic Party. Trump singled out Perkins Coie LLP law firm in a March 6 executive order, calling the firm “dishonest.”
The Perkins Coie website lists John Devaney as a managing partner emeritus and as a “longtime leader at Perkins Coie.” The website stated that Devaney “served as litigation counsel for then President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris in election recount and election contest proceedings in Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin.”
The Washington Post reported in 2017 that Perkins Coie was paid by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee to retain Fusion GPS, who hired former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele. It was Steele who put together a controversial dossier on Trump during the 2016 election campaign and it was published in 2017. It alleged Trump worked with Russia to win the presidential election because Russia had compromising information on him, according to CNN, which described the dossier as having “unverified and salacious allegations” about Trump. CNN reported in 2021, “the credibility of the dossier has significantly diminished.”
In his executive order, Trump called the Steele dossier “false” and that it was “designed to steal an election.”
“This egregious activity is part of a pattern,” Trump’s executive order states. “Perkins Coie has worked with activist donors including George Soros to judicially overturn popular, necessary, and democratically enacted election laws, including those requiring voter identification.”
Security clearance suspension.
Trump suspended the security clearance and prevented the federal government from hiring the law firm as a contractor using taxpayer dollars.
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“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,” Trump’s executive order stated.
Nessel vs. Trump…again.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel put out a March 26 press release in which she called Trump’s actions against the law firms “bullying” and “political retribution.” Nessel was also part of a coalition of 21 Democratic attorneys general who put out an open letter critical of Trump.
“Our founding fathers designed a government with coequal branches to ensure checks and balances,” Nessel said in the press release. “Yet, Donald Trump’s latest attempt to exert unchecked authority, undermining the rule of law and intimidating lawyers who challenge his administration’s illegal actions, fundamentally betrays the principles on which our nation was built. The legal community must continue to stand against these unlawful and unconstitutional executive orders as well as any efforts to target the judiciary. Only by doing so can we continue to serve as the essential check on this executive overreach and uphold the Constitution.”