WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from enforcing a March presidential memorandum to revoke the security clearance of prominent Washington attorney Mark Zaid, ruling that the order — which also targeted 14 other individuals — could not be applied to him.
The decision marked the administration’s second legal setback on Tuesday, after the Supreme Court declined to allow Trump to deploy National Guard troops in the Chicago area, capping a first year in office in which President Donald Trump’s efforts to impose a sweeping agenda and pursue retribution against political adversaries have been repeatedly slowed by the courts.
U.S. District Judge Amir Ali in Washington granted Zaid's request for a preliminary injunction, after he sued the Trump administration in May over the revocation of his security clearance. Zaid's request called it an act of “improper political retribution” that jeopardized his ability to continue representing clients in sensitive national security cases.
The March presidential memorandum singled out Zaid and 14 other individuals who the White House asserted were unsuitable to retain their clearances because it was “no longer in the national interest.” The list included targets of Trump’s fury from both the political and legal spheres, including former Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, New York Attorney General Letitia James, former President Joe Biden and members of his family.
The action was part of a much broader retribution campaign that Trump has waged since returning to the White House, including directing specific Justice Department investigations against perceived adversaries and issuing sweeping executive orders targeting law firms over legal work he does not like.
In August, the Trump administration said it was revoking the security clearances of 37 current and former national security officials. Ordering the revocation of clearances has been a favored retributive tactic that Trump has wielded — or at least tried to — against high-profile political figures, lawyers and intelligence officials in his second term.
Zaid said in his lawsuit that he has represented clients across the political spectrum over nearly 35 years, including government officials, law enforcement and military officials and whistleblowers. In 2019, he represented an intelligence community whistleblower whose account of a conversation between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy helped set the stage for the first of two impeachment cases against Trump in his first term.
"This court joins the several others in this district that have enjoined the government from using the summary revocation of security clearances to penalize lawyers for representing people adverse to it," Ali wrote in his order.
Ali emphasized that his order does not prevent the government from revoking or suspending Zaid’s clearance for reasons independent of the presidential memorandum and through normal agency processes. The preliminary injunction does not go into effect until January 13.
Zaid said in a statement, “This is not just a victory for me, it’s an indictment of the Trump administration’s attempts to intimidate and silence the legal community, especially lawyers who represent people who dare to question or hold this government accountable."
Associated Press reporter Eric Tucker contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump speaks at his Mar-a-Lago club, Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump listens to a question as he speaks at his Mar-a-Lago club, Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
An explosion in Moscow on Wednesday killed three people, including two police officers, Russian investigators said, days after a car bomb killed a high-ranking general not far away.
An official from Ukraine’s military intelligence, known as the GUR, told The Associated Press that the attack had been carried out as part of an agency operation. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
Russian authorities did not comment on who may be behind the attack. Since Moscow invaded nearly four years ago, Russian authorities have blamed Kyiv for several assassinations of military officers and public figures in Russia. Ukraine has claimed responsibility for some of them.
On Wednesday, two traffic police officers were approaching a suspicious individual when a device detonated, Russia's Investigative Committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko said in a statement. The officers and another person standing nearby died from their injuries.
The Interior Ministry named the officers as Lt. Ilya Klimanov, 24, who joined the Moscow police in October 2023, and Lt. Maxim Gorbunov, 25. Gorbunov had a wife and a 9-month-old daughter, the statement said.
The blast took place in the same area of the Russian capital where Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov was killed by a car bomb on Monday. Sarvarov was the head of the Operational Training Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces’ General Staff.
Investigators have said they are looking into whether Ukraine was behind that attack, which was the third such killing of a senior military officer in just over a year. Ukraine has not commented on it.
Ukraine — which is outnumbered by Russia’s larger, better equipped military — has frequently tried to change the course of the war by attacking in unexpected ways.
In August last year, Ukrainian forces staged a surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk region even as they struggled to stem Russian offensives elsewhere. Moscow’s troops eventually drove them out, but the incursion diverted Russian military resources and raised Ukrainian morale.
In June, swarms of drones launched from trucks targeted bomber bases across Russia.
Moscow has also blamed some assassinations on Ukraine. Just over a year ago, Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the chief of the military’s nuclear, biological and chemical protection forces, was killed by a bomb hidden on an electric scooter outside his apartment building. Kirillov’s assistant also died. Ukraine’s security service claimed responsibility for the attack.
In April, Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik, a deputy head of the main operational department in the General Staff, was killed by an explosive device placed in his car parked near his apartment building just outside Moscow..
Days after Moskalik’s killing, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he received a report from the head of Ukraine’s foreign intelligence agency on the “liquidation” of top Russian military figures, adding that “justice inevitably comes” although he didn’t mention Moskalik’s name.
Meanwhile, Western officials have accused Russia of staging a campaign of disruption and sabotage across Europe as part of an effort to sap support for Ukraine. Moscow has denied the claims.
Associated Press writer Volodymyr Yurchuk contributed to this report from Kyiv, Ukraine.
This undated photo, distributed by official telegram channel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, shows official portraits of Russian police officers Lt. lya Klimanov and Lt. Maxim Gorbunov, who were killed in an explosion in Moscow, on Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. (Official telegram channel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia via AP)
Police block the road near the scene of a deadly explosion in Moscow, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)
Police block the road near the scene of a deadly explosion in Moscow, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)
Police block the road near the scene of a deadly explosion in Moscow, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)
Police block the road near the scene of a deadly explosion in Moscow, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)
