Trump’s been getting revenge on law firms that represented people he perceives as enemies and now he’s going after individuals by name. He’s making an example of these two but I’m sure they won’t be the last.
President Trump on Wednesday signed executive orders punishing two officials from his first administration and an elite law firm, continuing a campaign of retribution that he has gleefully carried out since his inauguration.
Two executive orders targeted Christopher Krebs, who as a senior cybersecurity official oversaw the securing of the 2020 presidential election, and Miles Taylor, who served as chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security during Mr. Trump’s first term and anonymously wrote a high-profile opinion article for The New York Times in 2018. Among other measures, the orders directed Pam Bondi, the attorney general, and Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, to investigate the former officials and report their findings to the White House.
Good luck to them finding a law firm to represent them:
A third order targeted the law firm Susman Godfrey with many of the same sanctions that Mr. Trump has applied to other law firms that had taken on cases or causes he did not like. In 2023, Fox News agreed to pay $787.5 million to resolve a defamation suit filed by Dominion Voting Systems over the network’s promotion of misinformation about the 2020 election. Susman Godfrey represented Dominion, a manufacturer of voting machines that lawyers allied with Mr. Trump attacked with outlandish claims about widespread voting fraud.
We’re all logically obsessed with the tariffs these days and the shock and awe of DOGE and Vought and Bobby Jr and all the rest is overwhelming. But the destruction of the rule of law continues, openly and without restraint and it may be the most destructive activity of all. This is full-on dictator behavior. And nobody blinks an eye. It’s just another atrocity among thousands.
Flamboyantly going after Krebbs and Taylor with an executive order is designed to intimidate anyone who might speak out. I would guess that it’s going to work quite well. Putin must be so proud of his protege.