President Trump signed an executive order on Thursday aimed at stripping security clearance and government ties with Perkins Koy, a leading law firm that worked for the Democrats during the 2016 campaign.
The order Trump signed in his elliptical office directs the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence that “a review has been held to suspend the aggressive security clearance held by Perkins Koy individuals in order to take steps consistent with applicable law.”
Additionally, the order aims to block Perkins Coie employees' access to federal facilities and to verify the contracts the federal government has with the law firm.
Perkins Coie represented Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign. During that campaign, the company's lawyers worked with Fusion GPS, which was connected to so-called “Steel related documents.”
Attorneys Perkins Koy, Mark Elias and Michael Sussman, who worked on the case, left the law firm many years ago.
“This is an absolute honour to sign,” Trump said Thursday. “What they did is terrible. It's weaponization, it can be said to be weaponization against a political enemy, and we shouldn't make it happen again.”
A spokesman for Perkins Coie said the company has reviewed Trump's orders.
“It's obviously illegal and we're going to challenge it,” the spokesman said in a statement.
Thursday's action was the second in recent weeks, with Trump retaliating against the law firm over a relationship he disapproved. The president signed a memo late last month at law firm Covington & Burling to suspend security clearance.
