Whistleblower Lawyer Sues Trump to Reclaim Security Clearance (1)

Whistleblower attorney Mark Zaid, known for representing the intelligence official whose complaint led to President Donald Trump’s first impeachment, sued the Trump administration Monday to reclaim his security clearance.

The lawsuit comes in response to Trump’s March 22 memorandum revoking Zaid’s security credentials amid the president’s crackdown on lawyers he said weaponize the justice system. The loss of Zaid’s security clearances, which allow him to review sensitive government documents, bars him from “representing current and future clients in national security cases, including lawful whistleblowers,” Zaid said in a statement Monday.

“No American should lose their livelihood, or be blocked as a lawyer from representing clients, because a president carries a grudge toward them or who they represent,” Zaid said. “This isn’t just about me. It’s about using security clearances as political weapons.”

Zaid filed the complaint in US District Court for the District of Columbia, where he is being represented by Abbe Lowell’s newly founded law firm, Lowell & Associates. In a statement announcing the launch of his firm, Lowell said the purpose of the new practice was to represent political targets of President Trump.

“The administration admitted it revoked the clearance of a veteran, non-partisan national security lawyer to punish him for his proper representation of a client in the impeachment process,” Lowell said. “That’s illegal, unconstitutional, and exactly what this lawsuit will show.”

Zaid’s complaint states he received notices last month from the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Office of Director of National Intelligence that said he was denied access to materials because of the president’s directive.

Zaid is also being represented by Margaret Donovan, a lawyer at Koskoff, Koskoff and Bieder who previously served six years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Connecticut.

“Mr. Zaid’s security clearance is being revoked out of retribution, plain and simple,” said Donovan. “It is an unlawful attempt by the government to upend the adversarial system and punish lawyers out of vindictiveness.”

A representative for the White House did not immediately return a request for comment.

The case is Zaid v Executive Office of the President, D.D.C., 1:25 01365, 5/5/25