Mueller conducted an investigation of the Russian government’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. Trump called the investigation a “rigged witch hunt” and a “Russian Witch Hunt Hoax.”
“WilmerHale is also bent on employing lawyers who weaponize the prosecutorial power to upend the democratic process and distort justice,” a statement from the White House said Thursday. “For example, WilmerHale rewarded Robert Mueller and his colleagues ... by welcoming them to the firm after they wielded the power of the federal government to lead one of the most partisan investigations in American history.”
Mueller retired from the firm four years ago, a WilmerHale representative said.
The order also prohibits WilmerHale employees from federal buildings, bans them from communicating with government employees and prevents them from being hired at government agencies.
Further, the order directs the Office of Management and Budget to identify all government property the firm may be using, including Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities, which allow secure communication and conferences.
“The heads of agencies providing such material or services shall, to the extent permitted by law, expeditiously cease such provision,” the order states.
A federal judge temporarily blocked part of a similar Trump order denying attorneys with another firm, Perkins Coie, access to federal buildings.
At the time, a spokeswoman said the firm was leaving behind about 45,000 square feet of space in the Miami Valley Research Park for about 49,000 square feet of space in Miami Twp., in an office building at 3050 Newmark Drive.
WilmerHale opened a business services center in the Miami Valley Research Park in 2012, at 3139 Research Blvd, housing mostly administrative and management functions there.
The Kettering office opened with some 187 workers working at an average salary of $49,000. The facility was to have a $9.1 million payroll on its opening.
“Individuals in the Business Services Center include administrative support staff who are critical to WilmerHale’s business needs, but whose job functions do not require direct daily contact with our lawyers,” the firm says on its web site about its Dayton-area offices. “Bringing together services such as finance, human resources, information services, operations, document review and management, and practice management into a central location provides improved efficiencies and reduces significant operational expenses for the firm.”
Advocates at the time said one reason WilmerHale located its administrative functions in the Dayton area was the region’s relatively low overhead costs.
A WilmerHale representative, asked if the order will impact the firm’s local employees, said this: “We are aware of news reports of another executive order, this time targeting our firm and similar to another order that has been enjoined by a federal judge. Our firm has a longstanding tradition of representing a wide range of clients, including in matters against administrations of both parties.
“The executive order references Robert Mueller, who retired from our firm in 2021, and had a long, distinguished career in public service, from his time as a Marine Corps officer in Vietnam to his leadership of the FBI in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks,” WilmerHale’s statement also says. “We remain committed to providing the expert representation that our clients are entitled to and rely upon. We look forward to pursuing all appropriate remedies to this unlawful order.”
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