'You will be targeted': CNN's legal expert believes Trump going after individual lawyers
April 09, 2025
CNN's Elie Honig placed the detention and interrogation of a Detroit-area civil rights attorney into a broader pattern by president Donald Trump attacks against the legal establishment.
Michigan lawyer Amir Makled believes he was singled out by border agents due to his representation of a pro-Palestinian protester, and Honig believes that's right in line with the executive orders Trump has issued targeting some of the country's most prominent law firms, some of which have agreed to do free legal work to avoid his sanctions.
"Well, it's part of a pattern," Honig told "CNN This Morning." "Donald Trump and the Trump administration are targeting not just the big law firms, which is certainly happening, but also, as we see, individual lawyers, and if you look at the reasons, there's no pretext here, right, If you look at the proclamations Trump issued against those law firms.
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Makled implied that federal agents pulled him aside for questioning due to political reasons as he returned to the U.S. from a family vacation in the Dominican Republic, and Honig was inclined to agree.
"That would be completely consistent with what we've seen," Honig said, adding that those actions are unlawful. "The law firms who've challenged this, three law firms have challenged this in court so far, and they've all succeeded, and that's why I think it's such a shame that some other law firms have acceded. They have paid well, promised to deliver tens of millions of dollars of pro bono legal services to Trump. But I think it's a pattern. I think it's unmistakable, which is if you are a lawyer and you commit the unforgivable sin of representing a person or cause that the administration disapproves of, you will be targeted."
Honig said those actions could prevent the administration's enemies from finding lawyers to defend them.
"What does that mean for people who need legal representation?" Honig said. "Well, I think the main onus here is on lawyers themselves. I mean, you took an oath as a lawyer to serve the courts, to serve the truth, not to serve any presidential administration. If you're a person who needs a lawyer, ask them straight up, do you have any problems here? Are you going to bend a knee to the administration, or are you going to do your job and represent my best interests as an individual or a group?"
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