(Photo
by
Drew
Angerer/Getty
Images)
In
the
latest
installment
of
Trump
Weaponizing
the
Government
While
Screaming
About
the
Weaponization
of
the
Government,
the
White
House
yanked
security
clearances
from
Covington
&
Burling
because
they
represent
Jack
Smith.
A
competent
administration
would
develop
some
pretext
for
the
revocation
of
Covington’s
security
clearances
to
avoid
allegations
of
vindictive
retaliation.
Instead,
Trump
signed
the
order
declaring,
“We’re
going
to
call
it
the
deranged
Jack
Smith
signing
or
bill.”
Four-dimensional
chess
this
ain’t.
Covington
took
on
Smith
in
his
personal
capacity
after
the
administration
signaled
that
it
would
use
the
DOJ
to
punish
the
prosecutors
with
the
temerity
to
pursue
a
criminal
case
against
the
former
president
for
collecting
boxes
worth
of
classified
documents
like
Pokemon.
And
more
importantly
than
merely
having
these
documents,
he
sent
his
representatives
to
attest
that
he’d
turned
them
all
back
over
to
the
government
when
he…
hadn’t.
It’s
this
key
detail
that
made
Trump’s
case
materially
different
than
then-president
Biden
discovering
a
briefing
document
from
his
VP
days,
no
matter
what
right-wing
podcasters
try
to
spin.
Mar-a-Lago
club
members
had
better
access
to
U.S.
secrets
over
the
last
four
years
than
Covington
does
now.
The
message
is
that
Covington
lawyers
need
to
get
in
line
behind
Vladimir
Putin
and
any
other
deep-pocketed
foreign
power
who
might’ve
sent
agents
to
hang
out
at
the
club
over
the
last
four
years.
Priorities!
Why
does
Covington
even
need
clearances?
Trump
already
said
he
silently
declassified
everything
relevant
to
this
case
with
his
presidential
mind
powers
on
his
way
out
the
door.
Is
he
now
saying
he’s
magically
reclassified
them?
While
the
immediate
impetus
is
to
prevent
Smith
from
having
access
to
his
choice
of
attorneys
by
hobbling
Covington’s
ability
to
effectively
defend
him,
the
move
undermines
Covington’s
capacity
to
do
any
work
involving
secret
material
[UPDATE:
to
clarify,
others
in
the
firm
still
have
their
clearances
to
the
extent
work
is
done
by
other
lawyers
at
the
firm
—
though
Peter
Koski
and
his
team
who
work
largely
on
“sensitive,
high-stakes
government”
matters
will
not
be
in
a
position
to
assist
with
that
work
to
the
extent
it
involves
secret
material]
and
sends
a
more
pronounced
chilling
message
to
the
Washington
legal
community
as
a
whole.
From
CNN:
“This
is
nothing
less
than
a
petty
and
vindictive
attack
on
the
legal
profession,
and
particularly
the
ability
of
a
select
group
of
cleared
lawyers
to
defend
the
interests
of
officials
across
the
intelligence
community,”
said
Washington
national
security
attorney
Bradley
Moss
in
response
to
the
White
House’s
move.
Moss
is
a
law
partner
of
Mark
Zaid,
who
also
has
had
his
security
clearance
revoked.
“The
bigger
question
is,
how
far
is
he
going
to
take
this
war
against
the
legal
profession,
and
against
anyone
who
stands
for
the
rule
of
law?”
So
this
is
how
the
rule
of
law
dies…
on
the
gilded
toilet
of
a
tacky
resort.
Joe
Patrice is
a
senior
editor
at
Above
the
Law
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
Feel
free
to email
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments.
Follow
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Bluesky
if
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Joe
also
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Managing
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