Mark Zaid
Mark Zaid is a Washington, D.C., attorney specializing in national security law, security clearances, whistleblower representation, First Amendment disputes, and Freedom of Information Act litigation. There is a striking symmetry to his story: the lawyer who spent decades protecting whistleblowers from retaliation ultimately had to defend himself against retaliation for doing so.
Zaid has spent his career protecting people inside government willing to challenge it when necessary - civil servants of every stripe who refuse to look the other way when they encounter misconduct, corruption, or abuse of power. Whistleblowers often act at personal risk, jeopardizing careers, financial security, reputations, and personal safety. Zaid’s job has been to stand between them and a government possessing vast powers, resources, and tools for retaliation.
That work has become consequential in the age of Trump, as restraints on presidential power, the independence of the civil service, and the rule of law have come under sustained assault. Its importance goes far beyond protecting the rights of individual clients.
Zaid caught Trump’s attention as one of the attorneys representing the intelligence-community whistleblower who raised concerns about Trump’s July 25, 2019, telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Zaid helped ensure the complaint became public while protecting the whistleblower’s anonymity. The complaint became part of the congressional investigation culminating in Trump’s first impeachment. Predictably, Trump retaliated. He displayed what he thought was Zaid’s photograph at a rally, called him a “sleazeball,” and suggested he should be sued for treason.
In February 2025, Zaid represented FBI employees alleging retaliation for their work investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Four days after that lawsuit was filed, Trump told a reporter he was revoking Zaid’s security clearance (along with many others including President Joe Biden). A presidential memorandum formally revoked it in March. Of more than one hundred people whose clearances had been targeted, Zaid became the only one to sue.
In December 2025, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction ordering the clearance restored, concluding that Zaid was likely targeted because of his representation of whistleblowers and clients challenging the government.
The ABA Journal once characterized Zaid as an “equal opportunity thorn” in the side of Democrats and Republicans alike - an apt description of a lawyer whose allegiance has been less to a political party than to those willing to challenge abuses of government power.
"Executive orders have never been designed to specifically target individuals nor non-government actors for purposes of retaliation or retribution."
WASHINGTON DC – AUGUST 13, 2026