President Donald Trump retaliated Tuesday against a Washington law firm that provided free legal services to special counsel Jack Smith, the federal prosecutor who brought two criminal cases against Trump that were dropped after he won last November’s election.
During an Oval Office photo opportunity devoted to a series of executive actions, Trump signed a memorandum suspending the security clearances of lawyers and other personnel at Covington & Burling involved in representing Smith before he resigned from the Justice Department last month.
Trump’s directive also calls for ending all contracts Covington has with the federal government, although a federal spending database doesn’t show any government contracts with the firm.
The president’s move followed a report in POLITICO earlier this month that Smith declared in a financial disclosure that he received a gift of $140,000-worth of legal services from the firm while in government service. Government rules allow federal employees to take pro bono legal services related to their work as long as they get approval from their agency and disclose the gift.
Trump’s directive mentioned by name only one Covington lawyer representing Smith, Peter Koski, but says it applies equally to others at the firm “who assisted former Special Counsel Jack Smith 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.”
Trump frequently targeted Smith and his team during the special counsel’s investigations and threatened to fire him.
In a statement, Covington said the firm “recently agreed” to represent Smith when it “became apparent that he would become the subject of a government investigation” and suggested the relationship began around the time of the 2024 election.
“For more than 100 years, Covington has represented clients facing government investigations, consistent with the best traditions of the legal profession,” the firm’s statement said. “Covington serves as defense counsel to Jack Smith in his personal, individual capacity. We look forward to defending Mr. Smith’s interests and appreciate the trust he has placed in us to do so.”
A Covington spokesperson declined to comment on whether Koski or other lawyers there currently have security clearances.
The directive Trump signed Tuesday is just his latest attempt to use his return to the power of the presidency to punish his perceived enemies. He has rescinded security clearances for former intelligence community officials who signed a letter raising concerns — that ultimately turned out to be false — that Hunter Biden’s hard drive bore the hallmarks of a foreign influence operation. Trump also pulled the clearance for attorney Mark Zaid, a prominent whistleblower attorney who represented the intelligence official who helped trigger Trump’s 2020 impeachment. Trump has also pulled security details for figures who have criticized and publicly opposed him.
Attorney General Pam Bondi has also launched a “Weaponization Working Group” that is assigned to examine the conduct of Smith’s team, among other things.
Trump during the Oval appearance Tuesday mocked Smith and tossed the pen used to sign the memo to someone with instructions to deliver it to the former special counsel.
“We’re going to call it the deranged Jack Smith signing, or bill,” Trump told reporters. “The weaponization of our system by law firms, even pro bono work they’re doing in order to clog up government, stop government. And nobody knows about it better than me and, hopefully, that will never happen again.”
As a reporter began to ask Trump about the wisdom of the directive, Trump interrupted. “Excuse me, I’ve been targeted for four years, longer than that,” the president said. “You don’t tell me about targeting. I was the target of corrupt politicians for four years and then four years after that, so don’t tell me about targeting.”
Covington counts several prominent Democrats in its ranks including former Attorney General Eric Holder, now a senior counsel at the firm, and former DOJ Criminal Division chief and Clinton White House lawyer Lanny Breuer, who is a partner there. The firm also served as counsel to President Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential bid.
