Trump moves to suspend security clearances of lawyers at DC law firm
helping Jack Smith
 [February 26, 2025]
By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and ERIC TUCKER
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday ordered the
suspension of any security clearances held by lawyers at a prominent
Washington law firm who provided legal services to special counsel Jack
Smith, the latest move in the Republican's campaign of retribution over
the criminal investigations that dogged him before he returned to
office.
Trump's memo signed at the White House seeks to punish the law firm
Covington & Burling days after it was revealed that the firm provided
pro bono legal services to Smith, who charged Trump in two criminal
cases that were later dismissed after Trump won back the presidency in
November.
Covington & Burling is an international law firm whose current attorneys
include former Attorney General Eric Holder and Lanny Breuer, an
ex-Justice Department official who in 2010 hired Smith to lead the
agency’s Public Integrity Section. The firm had no role in Smith's
investigation of Trump, according to a person familiar with the matter
who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized
to discuss the situation.
The firm recently agreed to represent Smith “when it became apparent
that he would become subject of a government investigation," it said in
a statement Tuesday.
“Covington serves as defense counsel to Jack Smith in his personal,
individual capacity,” a spokesperson for the firm said. “We look forward
to defending Mr. Smith’s interests and appreciate the trust he has
placed in us to do so.”
The move is part of Trump's effort to exact revenge on his perceived
political enemies, and Smith in particular. After signing the directive,
Trump suggested the pen he used be sent to Smith, eliciting laughter in
the Oval Office.
It's not the first time that Trump as president has sought to suspend
clearances of Washington figures who have provoked his ire.
Last month, for instance, he moved to revoke the clearances of more than
four dozen former intelligence officials who signed onto a letter who
said the Hunter Biden laptop saga bore the hallmarks of a Russian
disinformation campaign.
The memo directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to suspend any active
security clearances held by Peter Koski, an attorney representing Smith,
and “all members, partners, and employees” of Covington who assisted
Smith during his time as special counsel. It says they will be suspended
“pending a review and determination of their roles and responsibilities,
if any, in the weaponization of the judicial process.”
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President Donald Trump gestures to the crowd at the Conservative
Political Action Conference, CPAC, at the Gaylord National Resort &
Convention Center, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025, in Oxon Hill, Md. (AP
Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Asked by a reporter Tuesday about the targeting of the law firm,
Trump replied: “I’ve been targeted for four years, longer than that,
so don’t you tell me about targeting. I was the target of corrupt
politicians for four years and then four years after that, so don’t
talk to me about targeting.”
A financial disclosure firm filed by Smith and reported on by
Politico earlier this month revealed that Smith had disclosed
receiving $140,000 in pro bono legal services from Covington &
Burling before he left his position in January after more than two
years on the job.
It follows the firings of members of Smith’s team and appears
designed to deter lawyers and major law firms from offering legal
services to the investigators who investigated Trump, many of whom
-- like Smith -- have sought their own counsel from attorneys.
Bondi and other Republicans have argued the Justice Department under
President Joe Biden had become “weaponized” against conservatives
and Trump in particular. In one of her first actions in office,
Bondi announced the creation of a “weaponization working group” that
will examine Smith's work and the prosecutors and law enforcement
who participated in what Bondi's memo described as the
“unprecedented raid on President Trump's home.”
Smith was appointed in November 2022 by then-Attorney General
Merrick Garland to take over in-progress investigations into Trump’s
hoarding of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida
and his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Both investigations resulted in indictments, though the classified
documents case was dismissed by a judge who concluded that Smith’s
appointment was illegal and the election interference prosecution
was significantly narrowed by a Supreme Court opinion last summer.
Smith dismissed both shortly after Trump’s election win in November,
citing longstanding Justice Department policy against prosecuting a
sitting president.
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