Despite weeks of turmoil within his legal team, President Donald Trump on Sunday claimed “Many lawyers and top law firms want to represent me in the Russia case.”
Many lawyers and top law firms want to represent me in the Russia case…don’t believe the Fake News narrative that it is hard to find a lawyer who wants to take this on. Fame & fortune will NEVER be turned down by a lawyer, though some are conflicted. Problem is that a new……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 25, 2018
….lawyer or law firm will take months to get up to speed (if for no other reason than they can bill more), which is unfair to our great country – and I am very happy with my existing team. Besides, there was NO COLLUSION with Russia, except by Crooked Hillary and the Dems!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 25, 2018
The tweets come just days after John Dowd, the President’s lead lawyer in the Russia probe, resigned from that role, reportedly due to Trump’s insistence on pursuing a more aggressive legal strategy than Dowd had advised.
Dowd’s resignation itself came less than two weeks after Trump named him in a tweet and claimed “I am VERY happy with my lawyers.”
The Failing New York Times purposely wrote a false story stating that I am unhappy with my legal team on the Russia case and am going to add another lawyer to help out. Wrong. I am VERY happy with my lawyers, John Dowd, Ty Cobb and Jay Sekulow. They are doing a great job and…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 11, 2018
…have shown conclusively that there was no Collusion with Russia..just excuse for losing. The only Collusion was that done by the DNC, the Democrats and Crooked Hillary. The writer of the story, Maggie Haberman, a Hillary flunky, knows nothing about me and is not given access.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 11, 2018
CNN reported Friday that Joe DiGenova’s role on Trump’s legal team was in question despite Trump attorney Jay Sekulow’s announcement, four days earlier, that DiGenova “will be joining our legal team later this week.” DiGenova and his wife Victoria Toensing, who work as partners, met with Trump on Thursday, CNN reported.
And several high profile litigators have reportedly declined to serve the President, including former solicitor general Theodore Olsen.
Trump’s May 11 tweets came in response to a New York Times report that he was in talks with Emmet Flood, who represented former President Bill Clinton during his impeachment proceedings. The Washington Post said Thursday that Trump’s discussions with Flood were “still preliminary.” CNN’s Katelyn Polantz reported the same day that Flood was one of several attorneys to turn Trump down in recent weeks.
Mark Corallo resigned as the spokesperson for Trump’s legal team in July. Months later, the New York Times reported that he was concerned about potential obstruction of justice issues he witnessed on the job; namely, that former White House communications director Hope Hicks assured Trump revealing emails between Donald Trump Jr. and British publicist Rob Goldstone concerning a Russian lawyer promoting dirt on Hillary Clinton “will never get out.” (They ultimately did get out.)
And while Trump may claim “Fame & fortune will NEVER be turned down by a lawyer,” his decades-long history of stiffing employees and contractors likely hasn’t helped his case.
