The Department of Justice filed a motion on March 21 requesting District of Columbia District Judge Beryl Howell disqualify herself from Perkins Coie LLP’s case challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order against it due to her publicly declared disdain for the president and her connection with essential aspects of the case.
“This Court has not kept its disdain for President Trump secret,” Chad Mizelle, acting associate attorney general, wrote in his motion. “It has voiced its thoughts loudly—both inside and outside the courtroom.”
Inside the courtroom, Mizelle noted that during now-former special counsel Jack Smith’s prosecution of Trump, she found “reason to believe that the former President would ‘flee from prosecution,’” and “pierced attorney-client privilege, ordering President Trump’s attorney to testify before a D.C. grand jury” investigating the alleged retention of classified documents in a case in South Florida.
Mizelle also said Howell directly rejected Trump’s stance that the indictments against individuals for conduct at or near the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was a “national injustice” and called his supporters “sore losers.”
He also referred to when she held Twitter in contempt of court in 2023 for not complying with Smith’s demands for Trump’s direct messages. She asked if tech billionaire Elon Musk, who had bought the platform a year prior, wanted “to cozy up with the former president.”
Outside of the courtroom, Mizelle cited comments Howell made in November 2023 to the Women’s White Collar Defense Association, during which she “lamented that America is at a ‘crossroads,’” apparently insinuating that the path of Trump would lead to authoritarianism. Those comments sparked a judicial misconduct complaint by Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.).
Trump’s executive order called “Addressing Risks from Perkins Coie LLP,” sought to identify and terminate the firm’s security clearances, contracts, and resources and also to ensure larger industry-leading law firms have ceased their Diversity Equity and Inclusion-based hiring practices. He signed it on March 6.
Perkins Coie filed suit on March 11, alleging violations of the firm’s rights to free speech and free association, as well as due process under the Constitution.
Howell said she would grant a temporary restraining order on March 12, blocking the executive order from going into effect.
Perkins Coie was hired by Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee in 2016.
That firm hired opposition research company Fusion GPS, which then hired Christopher Steele, the retired British counterintelligence specialist who compiled the now-discredited Steele dossier accusing the Trump 2016 presidential campaign of conspiring with Russia.
That dossier sparked an investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller, which, Mizelle said, involved Howell. Mueller’s report was followed by an investigation by special counsel John Durham, which Mizelle also said involved a member of Perkins Coie in an essential role.
Mizelle also requested that the new judge have no previous involvement with the Mueller Report or the Durham investigation, as issues with them and Fusion GPS were “central” to the executive order being challenged.
