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Summary: As President Trump prepares to build a legal team to tackle the Russia investigations, he is struggling to find any lawyers willing to join his team.
Top lawyers from at least four major law firm have turned down offers from the White House to represent President Trump during the Russia investigations. Sources indicate that the lawyers are concerned that the President would not be willing to listen to any advice given to him.
The Trump administration is facing complications due to the fact that some of the country’s best attorneys are not willing to represent the president. The administration is trying to put together a coherent defense strategy to handle the accusations and investigations into any misconduct regarding Russia. There are currently four congressional committees and Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller looking into the president and his administration.
The president has chief lawyer Marc. E. Kasowitz covering for him now but Kasowitz has very little experience with complex congressional and Justice Department investigations involving media coverage and public opinion. He excels in business and public relation disputes where he can use an aggressive approach filled with threats of countersuits.
This is not the first time top law firms and their attorneys have turned down the opportunity of representing the President. Before the Trump administration was able to secure Kasowitz, they had several rejections to deal with before finding the winner. According to a source, Kasowitz is working to improve his ability to take on other cases besides the typical ones he has undertaken for Trump in the past such at the lawsuit involving Trump University and his divorce proceedings. The source reports that Kasowitz has reached out to legal veterans in Washington to gain ideas and suggestions on how to build a defense strategy such as when the right time is to release information publicly.
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Some of those reported to have turned down the president include Robert Giuffra of Sullivan & Cromwell, Brendan Sullivan of Williams & Connolly, Mark Filip and Paul Clement of Kirkland & Ellis, and Ted Olson of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. The reasons for their rejections ranged from previous engagements that would be time conflicts to conflicts with current clients like financial institutions to an obvious lack of cooperation from the president to refrain from public statements and Tweets.
As one source close to the White House stated, “The concerns were, ‘The guy won’t pay and he won’t listen.’” That lawyer continued to explain that the firms were afraid that a public association from working with the president would “kill recruitment” efforts as well as harm their relationships with current clients.
Another source said that issue arose for the firms and their lawyers that “Do I want to be associated with this president and his policies?” in addition to the issues of “Who’s in charge?” and “Would he listen?”
The White House has been discreetly looking for an outside legal team for several weeks when the firing of FBI Director James Comey occurred. Those involved in the search include White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, White House counsel Don McGahn and senior counselor Kellyanne Conway. There have been a few instances where meetings or phone calls including the president have happened but nothing yet has come of them.
Are you surprised that no one wants to be Trump’s lawyer? Tell us in the comments below.
To learn more about Trump’s legal issues, read these articles:
- Donald Trump Wants Immunity from Apprentice Contestant’s Defamation Lawsuit
- Trump Signs Religious Liberty Executive Order
- Trump Hints at Secret Tapes of Conversations with Comey
- Steve Bannon to Head Russia “War Room” Legal Team
Photo: wikipedia.org
