Mike Scarcella and David Thomas
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday that took action against law firm Jenner & Block, what White House officials called the company’s actions against the government and legal systems of weapons.
“We have taken action against many law firms involved in the weaponization of the government, the weaponization of the legal system of political purposes or otherwise engaged in illegal or improper activities,” said White House clerk Will Scharf.
Jenner & Block did not respond immediately to a request for comments to the order, and the command was not immediately available.
The company was formerly home to Andrew Weissmann, the U.S. special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian intervention in the 2016 presidential election. Weissmann returned there in 2020 after serving on Mueller’s prosecution panel.
Trump issued a new order less than a week after Wall Street law firm Paul Weiss struck a deal with the president to escape an executive order that restricted his contact with government buildings and officials and threatened federal contracts held by his clients.
Perkins Coie, another big company in Trump, sued the administration earlier this month, accusing Trump of unconstitutional actions and causing clients to abandon the company.
On March 12, a Washington judge temporarily blocked parts of Perkins’ COIE order and found that the company’s lawsuit could be successful.
Trump directed the Justice Department on Friday to recommend similar actions against lawyers and law firms handling immigration cases, or suing the administration over the past eight years, including many of the largest U.S. companies.
(Reports by Steve Holland, Nandita Bose and Mike Scarcella in Washington and Chicago; Editors of Chizu Nomiyama, David Bario and Deepa Babington)
