Summary: Rudy Giuliani is joining Trump’s personal legal team.
In late March, the head of Trump’s personal legal defense team resigned, and the president allegedly had a difficult time replacing him. However, it was recently announced that former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Jane Raskin, and Martin Raskin have come on board.
Trump assembled a legal team to help him fight special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe. Mueller was hired by the government to determine whether or not Russia helped Trump win the 2016 presidential election. So far, he has indicted five members of Trump’s inner circle, four of which have already pled guilty.
Trump’s former lead attorney was John Dowd, an experienced criminal lawyer, who resigned in March after clashing with Trump behind closed doors. Sources said that Dowd disagreed with Trump’s tweeting and he was upset that Trump had attempted to hire other attorneys without Dowd’s approval. After Dowd resigned, the attorneys Trump had planned to hire declined the position, stating that the reason was possible conflicts of interest.
Trump reached out to various Big Law firms to replace Dowd, but the criminal attorneys there reportedly declined to take on the position. Trump’s representatives denied reports that he had a difficult time replacing his team, and this month, it was announced that Giuliani and the Raskins were coming on board. The three will be joining attorney Jay Sekulow, who is well-known for his First Amendment expertise.
Trump released a statement that Giuliani is “great” and his “friend for a long time.” Trump wants the Russia investigation to end quickly, and the former NYC mayor, who has shown unbridled loyalty to Trump, has promised to end the probe.
“I don’t think it’s going to take more than a week or two to get a resolution,” Giuliani told the New York Post.
Sekulow said that the Raskins, both former federal prosecutors, would add criminal law expertise to Trump’s team. “Jane and Martin Raskin, a wife-and-husband criminal defense duo based in Florida, will be working on Trump’s personal legal team. The two have long histories both working for the Justice Department and as white-collar criminal defense lawyers,” Vox said.
USA Today stated that the first orders of business for the new team is to figure out whether or not Trump should agree to be interviewed by Mueller. Trump has stated publicly that he wants to do so, but the move was shot down by Dowd.
Last week, Trump’s personal attorney outside of this investigation, Michael Cohen, had his office and home raided by the FBI. The law enforcement agency was looking for evidence of possible campaign finance law violations, and this raid has put the talks of a Mueller-Trump one-on-one on hold for now.
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