OPINION:
President Trump issued an executive order March 6 suspending any government work by the law firm of Perkins Coie and its contractors.
He barred the firm’s employees from entering federal buildings, revoked its security clearances and ordered an investigation into the firm’s discrimination policies. Ouch.
To no one’s surprise, a handy federal judge offered a lifeline last week to the law firm that cooked up part of the Russian collusion hoax for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2016.
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell, an appointee of President Obama, issued a temporary restraining order after the firm argued in federal court in the District of Columbia that it had lost clients because of Mr. Trump’s action.
The judge didn’t reverse the security clearance ban or the portion against its diversity, equity and inclusion policy, but suspending the firm’s government work was enough to spark mega hand-wringing in Washington, which is undergoing scrutiny from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
Mr. Trump’s executive order stated in part: “The dishonest and dangerous activity of the law firm Perkins Coie LLP (‘Perkins Coie’) has affected this country for decades. Notably, in 2016, while representing failed Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Perkins Coie hired Fusion GPS, which then manufactured a false ‘dossier’ designed to steal an election.”
This was about the now-discredited Steele dossier commissioned by Perkins Coie’s then-partner Marc E. Elias to smear Mr. Trump with salacious allegations. It was right in line with a false charge that Mr. Trump’s campaign had colluded with a Russian bank.
The media bought all this hook, line and sinker and ran with it through and beyond the 2020 election cycle.
The executive order also noted that Perkins Coie worked all over the country with billionaire financier George Soros to get rid of voter ID laws and other election integrity safeguards.
This is well documented. The leftist lawyers seem rather proud of making it easier to commit vote fraud, recasting it as “saving democracy.”
This doesn’t sound like a law firm with the public’s best interests at heart and perhaps should not be trusted with government work and secrets.
Dane Butswinkas, a lawyer representing Perkins Coie, said the law firm’s 15 biggest clients, which account for 25% of its revenue, all hold government contracts, according to The Washington Post.
“This executive order takes a wrecking ball to the rule of law,” he exclaimed. No, it doesn’t. It’s about restoring the rule of law.
White House spokesman Harrison Fields put it into perspective, telling Fox News, “It is absurd that a billion-dollar law firm is suing to retain its access to government perks and handouts.”
Judge Howell said the executive order seemed purely retaliatory on Mr. Trump’s part.
How about looking at it as a long-overdue measure of justice toward those who abused the legal system for political reasons?
“I am sure many in the legal profession are watching in horror about what Perkins Coie is going through here,” the judge said. “It sends little chills down my spine.”
There is no evidence of which I am aware that this judge experienced similar chills when Democrats went after Mr. Trump in four jurisdictions with bogus charges, tried to remove him from two state ballots and impeached him twice.
At a time when House Democrats, led by Rep. Adam Schiff of California (now a U.S. senator) were busy pushing the Russian collusion hoax, Judge Howell made a crucial ruling that sided with the Democratic-run committee against the Trump Justice Department.
In November 2023, Judge Howell received an award from the leftist Women’s White Collar Defense Association. In her speech, she lamented “the big lies” that spurred the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol. She cited historian Heather Cox Richardson’s book “Democracy Awakening,” which says America is on the brink of “fascism” thanks to “Christian nationalism,” racism and corporations.
Rep. Elise Stefanik, New York Republican and Mr. Trump’s nominee for ambassador to the United Nations, filed an ethics complaint in August against Judge Howell at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Last month, Mr. Trump issued a less sweeping executive order against the law firm Covington & Burling, representing Jack Smith. He is the former special counsel who filed now-moot criminal charges in two cases against Mr. Trump.
The president also revoked the security clearances of the 51 national security experts who signed a letter that seriously misled the public just before the 2020 election. The letter falsely stated that the true story of Hunter Biden’s damning laptop “has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”
Three days later, Joseph R. Biden cited the letter to lie to the nation during his televised debate with Mr. Trump.
Halting abuses of power is a welcome relief after the 12 years of the Obama/Biden regime’s lawfare, but some of the perpetrators should face more consequences. Helping to rig an election is a crime against America.
As for the Perkins Coie executive order, Mr. Butswinkas told the judge that it was “like a tsunami waiting to hit the firm. It truly is life-threatening.” He predicted, “It will spell the end of the law firm.”
No, it probably won’t, but if it does, it would be a victory for justice and election integrity.
• Robert Knight is a columnist for The Washington Times. His website is roberthknight.com.
