May 15 (Reuters) - The judge overseeing the U.S.

criminal case against Chinese telecom Huawei said at a hearing

that President Donald Trump's executive order stripping security

clearances from lawyers at Jenner & Block could be a hurdle for

the company's defense in the case.

U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly in Brooklyn questioned

prosecutors about the status of Jenner lawyer David Bitkower at

the Wednesday hearing, warning that a security clearance would

be necessary for the defense team.

The judge asked what both sides were doing to address the

problem.

"It's an issue in terms of the right to counsel, it's an

issue in terms of trying the case," Donnelly said. "We've got a

trial scheduled for January, and if you've got to get people

cleared, I think it's an issue."

A Justice Department lawyer said the government would work

to facilitate a security clearance for a different member of

Huawei's defense team.

Later on Wednesday, a lawyer representing Jenner in its

lawsuit in Washington, D.C., seeking to strike down the Trump

executive order said the clearance of one of the firm's

attorneys had been suspended. The letter did not name the

lawyer.

Jenner is among four law firms targeted by Trump's executive

orders, based on their ties to lawyers or cases that the

president said did not align with his administration's

priorities. The other three firms are WilmerHale, Perkins Coie

and Susman Godfrey.

A judge in Washington is poised to rule soon in Jenner's

lawsuit seeking to permanently block Trump's order against it.

The Jenner filing and the exchange in the Huawei case

showed the continued effects of Trump's executive orders against

prominent law firms, even as judges have so far sided with the

firms in lawsuits challenging the orders.

Huawei and Jenner declined to comment. Bitkower did not

respond to a request for comment. Other lawyers representing

Huawei at law firms Sidley Austin and Steptoe did not

immediately respond to requests for comment.

A spokesperson for the Eastern District of New York's

federal prosecutor office in Brooklyn did not immediately

respond to a request for comment.

Jenner and Bitkower, a former senior federal prosecutor

who is now a leader of the firm's investigations and defense

group, are defending Huawei against criminal racketeering and

trade secrets claims filed by the Justice Department in a

superseding indictment in 2020.

Huawei has denied the allegations and argued the government

was treating the company "as a prosecutorial target in search of

a crime."

Trump's executive orders against Jenner, WilmerHale, Perkins

Coie and Susman Godfrey sought to suspend security clearances

held by lawyers at the firms, restrict their access to

government officials and cancel federal contracts held by their

clients.

Jenner in a court filing on April 8 said that Trump's order

"suspends all of Jenner's security clearances, including those

required for the representation of clients in their most

sensitive matters."

WilmerHale said in a court filing this week that security

clearances for two of its lawyers had been suspended after Trump

hit the firm with an executive order. The firm did not name the

attorneys.