Breaking: President Donald Trump on Thursday issued an executive order against WilmerHale.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

trump is going after yet another large law firm. In this case, trump is mad that this firm has Robert Mueller as a member. trump issued another order against Jenner Block because of Andrew Weissmann used to work for that firm. There is a pattern

Link to tweet

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/business-and-practice/trump-hits-wilmerhale-with-latest-order-targeting-big-law-firm

President Donald Trump on Thursday issued an executive order against WilmerHale, the fifth major law firm attacked by the White House in the last month.

The order directs federal agencies to scrap contracts with the firm’s clients, revoke lawyers’ security clearances, and restrict their access to certain US buildings. The president targeted the firm over its ties to Robert Mueller, the former special counsel who led a probe into the 2016 Trump campaign’s alleged coordination with Russian state officials.

“Mueller’s investigation epitomizes the weaponization of government,” the White House said in a fact sheet accompanying the new order.

Trump has issued similar orders against law firms Perkins Coie, Paul Weiss, and Jenner & Block. He also pulled security clearances for certain lawyers at Covington & Burling over its connections to another former special counsel, Jack Smith.

Trump has repeatedly decried Mueller’s probe as a witch hunt or hoax. The investigation concluded there was no coordination with Russia officials, but it led to the conviction of Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort for bank fraud and conspiracy.

Mueller, a veteran federal prosecutor who headed the FBI for 12 years, practiced at WilmerHale until 2021. Up until around the 2024 presidential election, he was still featured on the firm’s website as a “retired partner.” WilmerHale has since updated the web page to state: “Robert S. Mueller III is no longer with our firm

[Think. Again.]

1. I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact....

...that the president of the United States is using executive orders to put specific, individual businesses and professionals out of competition with others.

[VMA131Marine]

3. Don't worry. What Trump's doing is illegal ...

At least until SCOTUS says it’s not.

[liberal N proud]

2. He is using the office of President for personal attacks

Unbelievable that this country has gone so low.

[central scrutinizer]

4. More projection

“Weaponization of government” is exactly what he is doing

[Prairie Gates]

5. Presidential Bills of Attainder

[no_hypocrisy]

7. A bill of attainer

A bill of attainder is a legislative act that declares a person or group guilty of a crime and imposes punishment without a trial, which is prohibited in the United States by Article I, Section 9 and Article I, Section 10 of the Constitution.

Is it valid only if another branch of the government employs it?

[Prairie Gates]

9. Yes, that's my point

What Trump is doing with the law firm EOs is essentially creating prohibited bills of attainder but doing so through EO. Next he will write EOs just for a specific person! Honestly, the courts should long ago have intervened.

[Paladin]

6. These big law firms better start fighting back. (nt)

[Think. Again.]

8. Collectively and collaboratively.

[onenote]

10. I'm a Wilmer alum. I will be extremely disappointed if they don't fight this hard.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

11. MaddowBlog-White House targets a law firm that Trump believes 'rewarded' Robert Mueller

According to Trump, Mueller exonerated him in the Russia scandal. With this in mind, why punish the firm that employed him?
https://bsky.app/profile/stevebenen.com/post/3llh4junq3227

The funny* thing is, Trump has (falsely) claimed that Robert Mueller exonerated him in the Russia scandal. If so, why would the White House feel the need to retaliate against the law firm that employed him?

* not actually ...

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/white-house-targets-law-firm-trump-believes-rewarded-robert-mueller-rcna198546

The list is still growing. NBC News reported:

Trump signed an executive order today suspending the security clearances for employees at the law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP which previously employed Robert Mueller, a special counsel who led the Russia investigation after the 2016 presidential election.

The president’s directive accused the firm of, among other things, engaging in “obvious partisan representations.” Just as notably, the White House said in a statement that WilmerHale “rewarded” the former special counsel, whose investigation, in Trump’s estimation, “epitomizes the weaponization of government.”

Right off the bat, it’s important to emphasize just how utterly bonkers these circumstances are. There is no precedent in the American tradition of a White House punishing a private law firm because it hired a lawyer the sitting president does not like. This is not the sort of thing that is supposed to happen in a healthy and free democratic country.

Complicating matters, the idea that Mueller is some kind of super villain is so preposterous that it’s unsettling to see the White House put such a claim in writing. Mueller is, after all, a decorated Marine combat veteran, a lifelong Republican and the former director of the FBI.

Yes, he also oversaw an investigation into the Russia scandal, but (a) the scandal was real and serious, even if Trump pretends otherwise; (b) Mueller did nothing wrong before, during or after the probe; (c) serving as a special counsel does not mean a lawyer should be blacklisted for life; (d) Mueller was appointed by the Trump administration, which makes it hilarious to see Trump characterize his work as an example of “weaponization”; and (e) the president has spent the last several years claiming that Mueller cleared him of any wrongdoing in the scandal......

As for the larger context, not every major law firm is responding to the White House’s offensive the same way. One has already caved, and another appears prepared to caved preemptively to avoid a presidential attack.

That said, one of the targeted firms is challenging a Trump order in court, and just hours ago, two more firms filed separate lawsuits seeking to block enforcement of the president’s directive.

Trump boasted publicly earlier this week about law firms caving to his demands and giving the White House what it wants, but as things stand, not every firm is bending the knee.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

12. When are they going to start in on the few media outlets we have left?

[struggle4progress]

13. Don't pay the ferryman

[LetMyPeopleVote]

14. Judge Says He Is Inclined to Grant WilmerHale Restraining Order

This makes me smile
https://bsky.app/profile/tainoboricua.bsky.social/post/3llhvg3oqfc2t

Link to tweet

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/business-and-practice/judge-says-he-is-inclined-to-grant-wilmerhale-restraining-order

A DC federal judge on Friday said he is inclined to grant WilmerHale a temporary restraining order against a Trump administration executive order, though there’s a question as to how broad it will be.

Judge Richard Leon of the US District Court for the District of Columbia said he will make his decision in a couple of hours.

WilmerHale filed a lawsuit earlier Friday, saying President Donald Trump’s order restricting security clearances for lawyers and scuttling contracts for the firm and its clients is unconstitutional. Trump issued the order Thursday, making WilmerHale the fifth major law firm the White House attacked in the last month.

The president targeted the firm over its ties to Robert Mueller, the former special counsel who led a probe into the 2016 Trump campaign’s alleged coordination with Russian state officials. “Mueller’s investigation epitomizes the weaponization of government,” Trump said in the order.

President George W. Bush appointed Judge Leon to the bench.

A judge on March 12 temporarily barred the administration from enforcing parts of a Trump executive order targeting Perkins Coie.