The lawyer Mark Zaid has represented a wide array of whistle-blowers, both Republicans and Democrats, during multiple administrations. But it was his involvement with the whistle-blower at the center of the first impeachment case against President Trump that drew the president’s ire.
While at a wedding last weekend, Mr. Zaid learned through an interview Mr. Trump gave to The New York Post that his security clearance would be revoked, a move that could jeopardize his ability to represent officials who work on classified matters. He still has received no formal notification or explanation.
“I’m doing the same thing I have done since the day I set foot in Washington, D.C., 32 years ago,” Mr. Zaid said. “All I do is hold the administration — whoever that is, Republican or Democrat — accountable for unlawful and ethical lapses.”
“It is more than obvious that Trump is fulfilling the promises that he made and campaigned on, that he would retaliate against those who did him wrong,” he added.
Mr. Zaid is on what has become an ever-growing list of President Trump’s perceived enemies. Through the first month of his administration, Mr. Trump and his allies have carried out a campaign of revenge and retribution that has little analogue in American history.
He has pulled protective details from former colleagues facing death threats from Iran. He has revoked or threatened to revoke the security clearances of President Biden, members of his administration and dozens of others. His administration has taken steps to target members of the media seen as unfriendly, taken the hatchet to entire agencies perceived as too liberal and fired or investigated government workers deemed disloyal.
Asked why he was going after the security clearances of Mr. Biden and others, Mr. Trump was characteristically blunt.
“There are people that we don’t respect,” he told reporters recently. “If there are people that we thought that were breaking the law, came very close to it, in previous years, we do it.”
Mr. Trump’s targeting of those he sees as disloyal is more intense and far-reaching than any that preceded it in American history, says Nicole Hemmer, an associate professor of history at Vanderbilt University who studies the presidency. Other presidents, such as John Adams, have attacked the press. Some, such as Andrew Jackson, have investigated previous administrations, claiming they were rooting out corruption. Richard M. Nixon’s penchant for going after his enemies cost him the White House.
But Mr. Trump’s efforts have extended beyond high-profile individuals and stretched down into the lower ranks of government and media.
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His administration fired the inspector general for U.S. Agency for International Development after he issued a critical report about the impact of the administration’s freeze on foreign aid and moves to dismantle the agency.
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A top Justice Department official appointed by Mr. Trump said the department would investigate prosecutors who refused to dismiss corruption charges against Mayor Eric Adams of New York.
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Mr. Trump and his adviser Elon Musk have attacked journalists by name, with Mr. Musk recently calling for the firing of a Wall Street Journal reporter who revealed that an employee of his cost-cutting team had posted racist comments.
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The White House has blocked Associated Press journalists from the Oval Office and Air Force One because the wire service is using the name Gulf of Mexico, rather than Mr. Trump’s preferred term, Gulf of America, for the body of water between the two countries.
Ms. Hemmer noted that unlike past presidents who were often curbed by Congress or the courts, Mr. Trump has largely bent the legislative branch to his will and remade swaths of the federal judiciary into friendly terrain.
“We’re in some uncharted waters,” Ms. Hemmer said. “It is the combination of the single-minded revenge focus, coupled with the unchecked use of executive power that makes this particularly dangerous.”
Mr. Trump pulled Secret Service protection for three former officials whom he perceived as disloyal — the former national security adviser John R. Bolton, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and an aide to Pompeo, Brian Hook — even though they are targets of the Iranian government.
At Mr. Trump’s direction, his aides have begun a large-scale investigation into federal prosecutors and agents who investigated cases against pro-Trump rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. And he has said he intends to strip the security clearances of prosecutors who investigated him and lawyers who played a role in his two impeachments.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment. His spokesman has said previously that Mr. Trump’s “best retribution” is changing the direction of the country toward successful policies that benefit Americans.
Conservative groups, picking up on Mr. Trump’s penchant for retribution, have rallied around the theme. One nonprofit posted the names and photos of more than 50 federal workers on what it is calling a “watch list” related to diversity, equity and inclusion, asking President Trump to fire them. Many of the targets are Black workers at health agencies. Others, influential in right-wing circles, created their own enemies lists before the election, including one called a deep state “target list,” urging Mr. Trump to take action.
“They pulled together all sorts of lists that had all our names on it,” Mr. Zaid said. “So they’re just going through the list.”
One of those targeted by Mr. Trump is Norm Eisen, a former ambassador who worked with House Democrats on Mr. Trump’s first impeachment. A lawyer, Mr. Eisen, along with Mr. Zaid, now represents F.B.I. agents who worked on the Jan. 6 investigation who are suing the Department of Justice to block their public identification amid Mr. Trump’s scrutiny of their work.
Mr. Eisen is also part of a team of lawyers fighting Elon Musk, Mr. Trump’s ally, from retrieving sensitive data from the Treasury Department.
He views Mr. Trump’s actions against him as a sign that he is on the right path.
“I take it as a backhanded compliment, and it’s going to encourage additional activity on my part,” he said. “So prepare for many more lawsuits.”
