Katelynn Richardson (Daily Caller News Foundation)
The Department of Justice (DOJ) is launching a review of law firms that have participated in “weaponized lawfare” in response to President Donald Trump’s memo targeting misconduct by attorneys pursuing litigation against the federal government, a spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Trump issued a memo Saturday aimed at “Preventing Abuses of the Legal System and the Federal Court,” which directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to “seek sanctions against attorneys and law firms who engage in frivolous, unreasonable, and vexatious litigation against the United States or in matters before executive departments and agencies of the United States.”
“Consistent with the president’s memorandum, the Department of Justice began an immediate review of law firms who have participated in inappropriate activity and weaponized lawfare,” a DOJ spokesperson told the DCNF.
The memo orders Bondi to review potential misconduct by attorneys engaged in litigation against the government stretching back eight years.
“Lawyers and law firms that engage in actions that violate the laws of the United States or rules governing attorney conduct must be efficiently and effectively held accountable,” the memo states. “Accountability is especially important when misconduct by lawyers and law firms threatens our national security, homeland security, public safety, or election integrity.”
Trump’s memo specifically calls out Democratic election attorney Mark Elias for his involvement in the discredited Steele dossier accusing Trump of colluding with Russia during the 2016 campaign. Elias responded by announcing on LinkedIn that his firm, Elias Law Group, is hiring and “will never bow down to Trump or stay silent when he attacks the legal system.”
Elias also chairs Democracy Forward, which is behind many current challenges to Trump’s executive actions, including a case filed Monday against his order eliminating the Department of Education.
Democracy Forward CEO Skye Perryman wrote in a statement Saturday that the “ongoing threats to the legal profession and the rule of law by the President are intended to intimidate and inspire fear, but instead they should inspire action.”
“President Trump is delivering on his promise to ensure the judicial system is no longer weaponized against the American people,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said in a statement to the New York Times on Saturday. “President Trump’s only retribution is success and historic achievements for the American people.”
Trump previously issued three other executive orders directly targeting Democrat-aligned law firms, including those that supported his prosecution during the campaign.
Perkins Coie, a firm that represented Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, sued after Trump issued an order stripping security clearances and access to government buildings for the firm’s employees. The Trump administration argued in a motion filed Friday that District Court Judge Beryl Howell, who blocked part of the order, should be removed from the case because she has “demonstrated partiality against and animus towards the President.”
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison came to an agreement with the White House in exchange for withdrawing an order against the firm. Under the agreement, the firm will provide $40 million in pro bono legal services to the administration.
A former partner of the firm, Mark Pomerantz, worked with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office to investigate Trump and later spoke about the prosecution in the media.
Brad Karp, chairman of Paul, Weiss, explained in an email to colleagues on Sunday that the order “could easily have destroyed our firm,” according to the Associated Press.
In February, Trump also signed an order stripping security clearances from members of a law firm that represented former special counsel Jack Smith, Covington & Burling LLP.
