The Department of Justice asked a judge on Friday to recuse herself from a case involving President Donald Trump‘s fight with the Democratic-aligned law firm Perkins Coie, alleging she has shown a “pattern of hostility” toward Trump that renders her incapable of being impartial.
In a court motion, DOJ chief of staff Chad Mizelle gave numerous examples of what he viewed as Judge Beryl Howell’s animosity toward Trump.
“This Court has not kept its disdain for President Trump secret,” Mizelle wrote. “It has voiced its thoughts loudly—both inside and outside the courtroom.”
Howell, Mizelle noted, once suggested in a speech before the 2024 election that Trump was an authoritarian. Mizelle argued that Howell overstepped by commenting in a court order that Trump spread a “revisionist myth” about the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. He said that Howell’s decisions in favor of former special counsel Jack Smith during grand jury investigations into Trump made her biased.
Last week, Howell imposed a temporary block on Trump’s order punishing Perkins Coie, which was tied to the dissemination of the discredited Trump-Russia dossier during Trump’s first presidential campaign. Trump’s order stripped Perkins Coie, an international law firm with about 2,500 employees, of its security clearances and threatened to cancel government contracts with any entity who uses the firm.
Trump said in his order that Perkins Coie was “dangerous” because while it was representing Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election, the firm hired Fusion GPS, which used former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele to craft the dossier. The document, containing salacious but unsubstantiated claims about Trump, leaked to the media and dominated headlines during his first term. One of Perkins Coie’s then-partners, Michael Sussmann, was prosecuted over allegations he lied to the FBI about his work with Clinton, but he was later acquitted by a jury.
Perkins Coie hired the prestigious law firm Williams & Connolly to argue to Howell that Trump’s order would cripple the firm and that it was at least partly unconstitutional. The judge agreed and issued the temporary restraining order while the lawsuit proceeds.
Perkins Coie is one of several law firms Trump has used his authority to punish over their involvement with his political enemies, though the firm’s fight is the only one that has escalated to a lawsuit at this stage.
Mizelle also argued that during the first hearing in the Perkins Coie case, Howell showed a “concerning and dismissive attitude” toward Fusion GPS.
JUDGE BLOCKS TRUMP FROM PUNISHING PERKINS COIE LAW FIRM
“It’s like he doesn’t want any of us to forget Fusion GPS. He doesn’t want any of us to forget that — any of this. He really has a bee in his bonnet about it,” Howell had said.
Judges typically must respond to recusal requests by either handing the case in question off to another judge or explaining their decision to stay on the case.