No security clearance, no government work. Seattle law firm faces Trump’s wrath

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday stripping lawyers at the Seattle firm Perkins Coie of their security clearance and access to government buildings.

The order also directs agencies not to hire Perkins Coie attorneys and to require government contractors to disclose any business they do with Perkins Coie.

A spokesperson for the firm said the order is “patently unlawful” and they intend to challenge it.

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Perkins Coie is headquartered in Seattle, and works with Boeing and Microsoft — which are government contractors — but also has a D.C. office and strong political connections with Democrats. Perkins Coie works for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and has a half-dozen lawyers working on a challenge to Trump’s ban on trans service members in the military, CNN reports.

"Perkins Coie has worked with activist donors including George Soros to judicially overturn popular, necessary, and democratically enacted election laws, including those requiring voter identification," the order said. The order also criticized the firm's DEI initiatives.

Two former lawyers at Perkins Coie were involved in opposition research in 2016 investigating Trump’s connections to Russia.

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Richard Painter, a former White House ethics lawyer for President Bush, called Trump’s move entirely inappropriate.

“I was shocked that the administration would go this far as to target a law firm in an executive order. I’ve never – never seen this,” Painter said.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Painter said it is rare but not unheard of for private lawyers representing government contractors such as Boeing and Microsoft — two of Perkins Coie’s clients — to have security clearance.

“There are matters in which you represent clients that have classified information,” Painter said. “Government contracts with the defense industry often have classified information, and those contracts must be negotiated… A very small percentage of criminal cases involve classified information.”

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Perkins Coie was founded in Seattle and is reportedly the largest firm in the Puget Sound region, with nearly 400 lawyers.