The latest chapter in President Donald Trump’s ongoing political offensive is aimed at the law firm connected to the Clinton campaign and the opposition research group behind the discredited Steele dossier. In a fiery Truth Social post Wednesday morning, Trump announced plans to sue Perkins Coie, the prominent Washington, D.C. law firm that hired Fusion GPS to produce the controversial report alleging coordination between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives during the 2016 election.
The dossier, authored by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, became the centerpiece of the false allegations. “I’m suing the law firm of Perkins Coie for their egregious and unlawful acts, in particular the conduct of a specific member of this firm, only to find out that the Judge assigned to this case is Beryl Howell, an Obama appointment, and a highly biased and unfair disaster,” Trump wrote, taking aim at Howell for earlier this month blocking a presidential order barring Perkins Coie employees from all federal government buildings.
“She ruled against me in the past, in a shocking display of sick judicial temperament, on a case that ended up working out very well for me, on appeal,” Trump continued. “Her ruling was so pathologically bad that it became the ‘talk of the town.’ I could have a 100% perfect case and she would angrily rule against me. It’s called Trump Derangement Syndrome, and she’s got a bad case of it. To put it nicely, Beryl Howell is an unmitigated train wreck. NO JUSTICE!!!”
The law firm, which employs around 1,200 people, has filed a countersuit against Trump. A copy of Trump’s order targeting Perkins Coie describes the firm as “dishonest and dangerous,” alleging it engages in discrimination against its white employees. The order instructs U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and other top legal officials to investigate the firm and assess whether its remaining security clearances “are consistent with the national interest.”
None of the claims made in the Steele dossier were ever substantiated, even by circumstantial evidence. The report underwent extensive scrutiny by former FBI Director Robert Mueller, who concluded that “the FBI was not able to corroborate a single substantive allegation contained in the Steele Reports.” In 2023, special counsel John Durham released the findings of a lengthy investigation, concluding that the Trump campaign did not conspire with Russian actors to influence the outcome of the 2016 election.