CNN
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President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday directing agencies to suspend the security clearances and access to federal buildings of lawyers for the law firm Wilmer Hale.
The order also directs agencies to “refrain from hiring employees” of the firm without a waiver from an agency head, and it directs agencies to review any contracts they may have with the firm and make efforts to terminate them.
The executive order on Thursday is the fifth restricting a major Washington law firm’s ability to do business with the federal government. The White House has made clear these firms are being punished because of their partners’ or clients’ political work and ties to criminal investigations that probed Trump.
Wilmer Hale is one of the largest law firms in Washington — and the former professional home to one time-special counsel Robert Mueller, who oversaw the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
In the executive order, Trump claims that Wilmer Hale has “abandoned the profession’s highest ideals and abused its pro bono practice to engage in activities that undermine justice and the interests of the United States.” The order specifically notes Mueller’s ties to the firm.
Wilmer Hale responded to the executive order Thursday, citing its history of representing a range of clients “including in matters against administrations from both parties.”
“We remain committed to providing the expert representation that our clients are entitled to and rely upon,” a spokesperson for the firm said in a statement. “We look forward to pursuing all appropriate remedies to this unlawful order.”
Despite widespread shock in the legal community about Trump going after firms, many of the major firms in Washington are refusing to take a stand against Trump publicly, out of fear they could become targets themselves.
One firm of the five so far, Perkins Coie, has sued and initially won some court orders telling the administration it would be unconstitutional to block the firm’s lawyers from federal buildings and potentially punish its corporate clients that contract with the government. That type of far-reaching order is still in place on another firm, Jenner & Block.
Yet another large firm, Paul Weiss, cut a deal with Trump, promising pro bono legal work over the next four years.
Wilmer’s partnership delivered several people to the Mueller investigation in 2017. The team found Trump likely obstructed justice during his first term in office but could not be charged with a crime and documented several connections between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia.
Mueller, who also previously led the FBI, is now retired.
Wilmer is often at the heart of politically charged disputes, especially related to congressional probes, Justice Department enforcement and in the tech industry. In recent years, lawyers from Wilmer represented Twitter — now Elon Musk’s X — when special counsel Jack Smith sought and obtained some of Trump’s private social media data.
The firm is also frequently behind liberal-leaning political causes that make their way into court, and former Clinton-era solicitor general Seth Waxman from Wilmer is representing a group of inspectors general Trump fired. That court case had a hearing on Thursday.
CNN’s Kara Scannell contributed to this report.
