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Reuters
27-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
US judge blocks Trump order against law firm WilmerHale
May 27 (Reuters) - A judge in Washington on Tuesday struck down an executive order targeting law firm WilmerHale, marking the third ruling to overwhelmingly reject President Donald Trump's efforts to punish firms he perceives as enemies of his administration. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, an appointee of Republican President George W. Bush, said Trump's order retaliated against the firm in violation of U.S. constitutional protections for free speech and due process. WilmerHale is the former home of Robert Mueller, the Republican-appointed special counsel who led a probe into Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election and Trump campaign ties to Moscow. Trump has derided the investigation as a political "witch hunt." Leon barred federal agencies from enforcing the March 27 executive order against WilmerHale, a 1,100-lawyer firm with offices in Washington, D.C. and across the country. WilmerHale was among four law firms that sued the administration over Trump's orders seeking to bar their attorneys from federal buildings and to strip their clients of U.S. federal government contracts. Trump accused the firms of "weaponizing" the justice system against him and his allies. WilmerHale called Trump's order 'flagrantly' unconstitutional, arguing it violated its rights to speech, due process and equal protection under the law. The firm in its lawsuit was represented by prominent conservative lawyer Paul Clement, who was the U.S. solicitor general during the George W. Bush presidency. In a related lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell on May 2 overturned Trump's executive order against law firm Perkins Coie, ruling that "settling personal vendettas by targeting a disliked business or individual for punitive government action is not a legitimate use of the powers of the U.S. government or an American President." On May 23, U.S. District Judge John Bates in D.C. issued a similar ruling that struck down Trump's order against Jenner & Block. A fourth judge is weighing whether to overturn an executive order that targeted Susman Godfrey. The U.S. Justice Department has defended Trump's orders in court, arguing in each case that Trump was lawfully exercising his presidential power and discretion. The Justice Department can appeal Leon's order to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Nine law firms, including Paul Weiss, Latham & Watkins; Skadden Arps; and Willkie Farr, reached deals with Trump that averted punitive actions, pledging a combined total of nearly $1 billion in free legal services to advance causes he supports. Trump's targeting of firms has drawn condemnation from many within the legal industry. Some have criticized the firms that reached agreements as capitulating to presidential coercion.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Judge Slaps Down Trump's Attempt to Punish the Legal System
A federal judge has blocked an executive order by President Donald Trump targeting Jenner & Block, a law firm known for its work on progressive issues and its ties to Special Counsel Robert Muller's Russia probe. U.S. District Judge John Bates—a Republican appointee—found that the March order violated the Constitution, ruling that it was motivated Mueller bias against the firm's clients and values, Reuters reported. 'It picked Jenner because of the causes Jenner champions, the clients Jenner represents, and a lawyer once employed,' Bates wrote, calling it a 'doubly violative' breach of constitutional protections, including the First Amendment right to free speech. Trump's March 25 executive order accused Jenner of engaging in 'lawfare' and attacked its internal diversity policies, pro bono work for immigrants and transgender people, and its former employment of prosecutor Andrew Weissmann. Weissmann played a key role in the Mueller investigation, which Trump has repeatedly derided as a 'hoax.' 'My administration is committed to addressing the significant risks associated with law firms... that engage in conduct detrimental to critical American interests,' the order read. 'Jenner & Block LLP (Jenner) is yet another law firm that has abandoned the profession's highest ideals, condoned partisan 'lawfare,' and abused its pro bono practice to engage in activities that undermine justice and the interests of the United States.' The order was designed to 'chill legal representation the administration doesn't like, thereby insulating the Executive Branch from the judicial check fundamental to the separation of powers,' Bates argued. The Friday ruling mirrors an earlier May 2 decision that struck down similar orders against the international law firm Perkins Coie. Jenner sued to block the order, arguing it limited free speech and due process rights by punishing legal advocacy the administration dislikes. The move speaks to a wider fracturing of the legal profession as firms pick sides amid the Trump administration's attacks. At least four firms—Jenner, Perkins, WilmerHale, and Susan Godfrey—have filed suits to block Trump's executive orders. At the same time, several others, including Skadden Arps and Simpson Thatcher, have pledged free legal support for causes endorsed by the White House in an effort to avoid being targeted. The Justice Department, helmed by Pam Bondi, which has defended the orders as legitimate exercises of presidential authority, has not yet publicly commented on the ruling and has been contacted for a response. The White House has also so far remained silent on the ruling. The Trump administration is expected to appeal to the D.C. Circuit.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ex-Prosecutor Says This Ruling Just Helped Americans 'Connect The Dots' On Trump
Ex-prosecutor Andrew Weissmann on Friday reacted to a federal judge striking down President Donald Trump's executive order targeting law firm Jenner & Block because the order violated the First Amendment. 'It allows people to connect the dots,' said Weissmann, who was previously employed by the law firm and served as a prosecutor on special counsel Robert Mueller's team as it investigated the 2016 Trump campaign's ties to Russia. U.S. District Judge John D. Bates — a George W. Bush appointee — wrote in his ruling that Trump's order 'makes no bones about why it chose its target,' adding that 'it picked Jenner because of the causes Jenner champions, the clients Jenner represents, and a lawyer Jenner once employed.' Friday's ruling marks the second time in a matter of weeks that a judge has foiled Trump's attempts to retaliate against a major law firm whose work he's not a fan of. Severallaw firms have opted to kiss the president's ring by striking deals with him in hopes of avoiding similar executive orders targeting them, leading a number of law associatesas well as top partners to abandon ship as a result. Weissmann — a legal pundit and a notable critic of the president — told MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace that he loves Bates' ruling while tying the decision to the administration's battle with Harvard University. A federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration from barring the university's enrollment of foreign students. 'And what is the main ground? First Amendment violation,' said Weissmann of the Harvard ruling. 'And so you're going to see this over and over again.' He stressed that it's 'very important' for Americans not to see the Trump administration's retaliatory acts as 'isolated' events. 'This is sort of remarkable,' he said. 'The United States government repeatedly being found to have violated the First Amendment in really significant ways — attacking a major firm, a series of major law firms and Harvard University.' H/T: Raw Story Trade War Trump Rages: Trump Threatens 50% Tariffs On EU And 25% Penalties On Smart Phones Judge Slams Trump Administration's Retaliation, Blocks Executive Order Against Major Law Firm GOP Tax Bill Touts 'Trump Accounts' Giving $1000 To Newborns — But Experts Say It Wouldn't Do Much For Parents
New York Times
23-05-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Trump's Order Targeting Jenner & Block Was Unconstitutional, Judge Rules
A federal judge on Friday struck down an executive order signed by President Trump that threatened penalties against the law firm Jenner & Block, which once employed a top attorney who helped investigate the president alongside the team run by Robert S. Mueller III, who was then the special counsel. It was the second time a federal judge found one of Mr. Trump's orders targeting elite law firms unconstitutional, after another judge ruled earlier in May that an essentially identical order targeting the firm Perkins Coie appeared retributive and designed to strong-arm the firm into serving the White House. Two other firms — WilmerHale and Susman Godfrey — have asked for similarly decisive rulings in lawsuits they brought. In March, after a string of similar orders that openly detailed the president's political grievances and furthered his campaign of retribution, Mr. Trump released an order targeting Jenner & Block, citing its past decision to hire Andrew Weissmann after the special counsel's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Mr. Weissman left the firm in 2021. The order leveraged the full force of the federal government to curtail Jenner & Block's business. In an opinion on Friday, Judge John D. Bates wrote that the orders were 'doubly violative of the Constitution.' Not only did they violate the First Amendment by seeking to muzzle a perceived critic of the president, he wrote, they also had the effect of intimidating all other lawyers whose work 'protects against governmental viewpoint becoming government-imposed orthodoxy.' 'This case arises from one of a series of executive orders targeting law firms that, in one way or another, did not bow to the current presidential administration's political orthodoxy,' he wrote. 'Like the others in the series, this order — which takes aim at the global law firm Jenner & Block — makes no bones about why it chose its target: it picked Jenner because of the causes Jenner champions, the clients Jenner represents, and a lawyer Jenner once employed.' The order had directed federal agencies to identify and cancel contracts with the firm, suspend security clearances held by its lawyers and bar its staff from federal buildings, all in the name of 'national security and other interests of the United States.' Around the same time that Mr. Trump began releasing the orders, a cluster of other top firms rushed to pre-emptively head off retaliation by offering millions of dollars of pro bono work on areas of common ground, where they said the values of the firm and the White House appeared to align. Between white shoe firms such as Paul Weiss, Skadden, Latham & Watkins and half a dozen others, the White House secured pledges approaching $1 billion worth of free work. But a minority of firms, including Jenner & Block, Susman Godfrey and WilmerHale, went in the opposite direction and sued to stop the orders, arguing that they were clearly coercive. In court, lawyers pointed out that the moment other firms cut deals, the grave national security concerns cited in the executive orders abruptly vanished. With Judge Bates's order on Friday, federal judges have so far agreed. Permanently barring the government from enforcing the order, Judge Bates noted that the larger legal profession now faced a 'forward-looking censorship scheme,' in which the threat of punishment could be trotted out repeatedly, any time any firm appeared to be resisting Mr. Trump's political agenda. 'The administration has shown a repeated willingness to haggle, sending the message loud and clear that Jenner can spare itself — if it compromises its speech,' Judge Bates wrote. 'So whereas retaliation usually punishes once and moves along, the retaliation here is ongoing and avoidable.' Last week, Jenner & Block's lawyers notified the court that despite the lawsuit challenging the terms of the executive order, several of its lawyers had since received letters informing them that their security clearances were being suspended anyway. At the same time, firms that reached a deal have seen the scope of their agreements broaden, as Mr. Trump has reportedly mused about deploying those firms toward political causes such as renegotiating trade deals. While Jenner & Block had asked Judge Bates to go beyond striking down the executive order and also block any future actions that could arise from the president's attacks, Judge Bates declined to do so. Noting that he was 'very sympathetic' and even found it plausible that the government would retaliate again given its continual hounding of the firm during the litigation, he wrote that it was beyond the court's power to halt 'hypothetical future actions,' even if they were likely unconstitutional follow-up attacks.
Fox News
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Controversial office vacant for first time in nearly a decade, but emerging secrets haunt those involved
Print Close By Brooke Singman Published May 21, 2025 It's the first time in nearly a decade that a special counsel is not investigating something related to a sitting or former president, but the remnants and revelations of past special counsel probes continue to break through the news cycle. Every attorney general-appointed special counsel since 2017 has now released their reports, issued their indictments, received their verdicts, shuttered their offices, disassembled their teams and returned to their government or private sector roles. Essentially, they've all moved on. BIDEN INTERVIEW AUDIO REVEALS WHO BROUGHT UP BEAU'S DEATH – AND IT WASN'T HUR First, in 2017, there was Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who was investigating whether members of the first Trump campaign colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 election. Then, in 2019, there was Special Counsel John Durham, who was investigating the origins of the Mueller investigation and the original FBI probe into then-candidate Donald Trump and his campaign. Soon, it was 2022, and Special Counsel Jack Smith began investigating then-former President Trump for his alleged improper retention of classified records held at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida after his presidency. Smith also began investigating events surrounding the 2020 election and the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Next up, in 2023, Special Counsel Robert Hur was appointed and began investigating now-former President Joe Biden's alleged improper retention of classified records, which occurred during his vice presidency as part of the Obama administration. DURHAM FINDS DOJ, FBI 'FAILED TO UPHOLD' MISSION OF 'STRICT FIDELITY TO THE LAW' IN TRUMP-RUSSIA PROBE Later in 2023, David Weiss, who had served as U.S. attorney in Delaware and had been investigating Hunter Biden since 2018, was appointed special counsel to continue his yearslong investigation into the now-former first son. At this point, those investigations have all come to their resolutions: Mueller, in 2019, found there was no collusion; Durham, in 2022, found that the FBI ignored "clear warning signs" of a Hillary Clinton-led plan to inaccurately tie her opponent to Russia using politically funded and uncorroborated opposition research; Smith, in 2022, charged Trump but had those charges tossed; Hur, in 2023, opted against charging Biden; Weiss, in 2023, charged Hunter Biden, who was convicted and later pardoned by his father. But the curiosity surrounding those investigations that dominated headlines for the better part of a decade remains, largely because of so many loose ends and the prevalence of unanswered questions. A trickle, sometimes more like a flood, of information and news related to those probes continues to seep into the news cycle. On Friday night, audio of Biden's interview with Hur was made public. Hur closed his investigation in 2024 without charging the then-president and infamously described him as a "sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory." Some congressional lawmakers had demanded the release of the audio of Biden's interview amid questions about the former president's memory lapses and mental acuity. BIDEN STRUGGLES WITH WORDS, KEY MEMORIES IN LEAKED AUDIO FROM SPECIAL COUNSEL HUR INTERVIEW The audio – as expected, based on the transcript of the interview released in 2024 – showed Biden struggling with key memories, including when his son, Beau, died; when he left the vice presidency; and why he had classified documents he shouldn't have had. In a throwback to another special counsel investigation, the United States Secret Service last week paid a visit to former FBI Director James Comey after he posted a now-deleted image on social media that many interpreted as a veiled call for an assassination of Trump. Comey on Thursday posted to Instagram an image of seashells on the beach arranged to show "86 47" with the caption, "Cool shell formation on my beach walk." Some interpreted it as a coded message, with "86" being slang for "get rid of" and "47" referring to Trump, who is the 47th president. TRUMP SAYS COMEY KNEW 'ASSASSINATION' MEANING BEHIND DELETED SOCIAL MEDIA POST Comey later deleted the post and wrote a message that said, "I didn't realize some folks associate those numbers with violence. It never occurred to me but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down." Comey was the FBI director who, in 2016, allowed the opening of the bureau's original Trump-Russia investigation, known inside the FBI as "Crossfire Hurricane." Trump fired Comey in May 2017. Days later, Mueller was appointed as special counsel to take over that investigation, thus beginning the string of special counsels. Durham investigated the origins of the FBI probe and found that the FBI did not have any actual evidence to support the start of that investigation. Durham also found that the CIA, in 2016, received intelligence to show that Hillary Clinton had approved a plan to tie then-candidate Trump to Russia; intelligence that the FBI, led by Comey, ignored. DECLASSIFIED TRUMP-RUSSIA PROBE DOCS TO DATE: WHAT TO KNOW On July 28, 2016, then-CIA Director John Brennan briefed then-President Barack Obama on a plan from one of Clinton's campaign foreign policy advisers "to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russian security service." Biden, Comey, former Attorney General Loretta Lynch and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper were in the Brennan-Obama briefing, according to the Durham report. After that briefing, the CIA properly forwarded that information through a counterintelligence operational lead (CIOL) to Comey and then-Deputy Assistant Director of Counterintelligence Peter Strzok with the subject line "Crossfire Hurricane." Fox News first obtained and reported on the CIOL in October 2020, which stated, "The following information is provided for the exclusive use of your bureau for background investigative action or lead purposes as appropriate." DURHAM: FBI IGNORED 'CLEAR WARNING SIGN' OF CLINTON-LED EFFORT TO 'MANIPULATE' BUREAU FOR 'POLITICAL PURPOSES' "Per FBI verbal request, CIA provides the below examples of information the CROSSFIRE HURRICANE fusion cell has gleaned to date," the memo continued. "An exchange (REDACTED) discussing US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's approval of a plan concerning US presidential candidate Donald Trump and Russian hackers hampering US elections as a means of distracting the public from her use of a private email server." By January 2017, Comey had notified Trump of a dossier, known as the Steele dossier, that contained salacious and unverified allegations about Trump's purported coordination with the Russian government, a key document prompting the opening of the probe. The dossier was authored by Christopher Steele, an ex-British intelligence officer, and commissioned by Fusion GPS. Clinton's presidential campaign hired Fusion GPS during the 2016 election cycle. DOJ RECOMMENDED AGAINST TRUMP PROSECUTION ON OBSTRUCTION IN MUELLER PROBE: NEWLY RELEASED 2019 MEMO REVEALS It was eventually determined that the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee funded the dossier through the law firm Perkins Coie. Durham, in his report, said the FBI, led by Comey, "failed to act on what should have been – when combined with other incontrovertible facts – a clear warning sign that the FBI might then be the target of an effort to manipulate or influence the law enforcement process for political purposes during the 2016 presidential election." But that intelligence referral document is just one of many that tells the real story behind the investigation that clouded the first Trump administration. And Trump has taken steps to ensure the American public has full access to all the documents. Trump, in late March, signed an executive order directing the FBI to immediately declassify files concerning the Crossfire Hurricane investigation. The FBI is expected to release those documents in the coming weeks. As for the other special counsels, Smith recently had his own moment in the news cycle. FLASHBACK: DURHAM TESTIFIES THAT THE FBI IGNORED HILLARY CLINTON PLAN TO LINK TRUMP TO RUSSIA FBI Director Kash Patel on Thursday disbanded a public corruption squad in the bureau's Washington field office. That was the same office that aided Smith's investigation into Trump. As for Weiss, after the release of the Biden audio tapes calling further into question the former president's mental acuity, some, including Trump, are now calling for a review of the pardon of Hunter Biden. Hunter Biden was found guilty of three felony firearm offenses stemming from Weiss' investigation. The first son was also charged with federal tax crimes regarding the failure to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes. Before his trial, Hunter Biden entered a surprise guilty plea. The charges carried up to 17 years behind bars. His sentencing was scheduled for Dec. 16, 2024, but his father, then-President Biden, pardoned him on all charges in December 2024. HUNTER BIDEN: A LOOK AT HOW THE SAGA SPANNING OVER 6 YEARS UNFOLDED Trump alleged in a Truth Social post in March that former President Biden's pardons were "void" due to the "fact that they were done by Autopen." "The 'Pardons' that Sleepy Joe Biden gave to the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs, and many others, are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen," Trump wrote. "In other words, Joe Biden did not sign them but, more importantly, he did not know anything about them! The necessary Pardoning Documents were not explained to, or approved by, Biden. He knew nothing about them, and the people that did may have committed a crime," Trump added. Weiss, in his final report, blasted then-President Biden's characterizations of the probe into Hunter Biden, which Weiss said were "wrong" and "unfairly" maligned Justice Department officials. He also said the presidential pardon made it "inappropriate" for him to discuss whether any additional charges against the first son were warranted. Print Close URL
