Two more prominent attorneys have declined to serve on President Donald Trump’s legal team, citing “business conflicts,” according to The Daily Best.
Tom Buchanan and Dan Webb, of the firm Winston & Strawn, confirmed to The Daily Best Monday evening that the White House asked the pair to serve on Trump’s team, but they had to decline.
“However they consider the opportunity to represent the President to be the highest honor and they sincerely regret that they cannot do so,” Buchanan and Webb said in a joint statement to The Daily Beast.
A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to TPM’s request for comment.
The reports follow news this weekend that two other attorneys — husband and wife legal team Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing — were not going to serve on Trump’s team due to “conflicts,” despite an announcement from the White House early last week that the two were onboard. Toensign represents clients like Mark Corallo and Sam Clovis, both former Trump campaign associates who have spoken with special counsel Robert Mueller.
Over the weekend, Trump tweeted that there were “many lawyers and top law firms” who “want to represent me,” despite the pattern of conflicts preventing them from doing so. Just last week, one of Trump’s personal lawyer John Dowd resigned from the team of attorneys representing the President in Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election and the Trump campaign.
Good. Twitler can’t get no legal relief!! Cases against him are mounting and lawyers are avoiding him like the plauge. #MAGA
Make Attorneys Go Anywhere(else)…?? Make Attorneys Go Away…?
Lawyer: “Mr. Trump, I’d would be honored to represent you, but I have a calendar conflict on your trial date.”
Trump: “There is no trial date!”
Lawyer: “Byeeeeeee! Gotta run!”
Trump (on twitter) : Squawk, squawk, SQUAWLK!!!
Approached for hire lawyers : Balk, balk, (insert nonsense that sounds like flattery), balk!
I think Trump should try for the lawyers with the 1-800 numbers, who advertise on the sides of buses, and hand out cervical collars to clients during the first consultation. Better yet: “There’s no fee, unless we win!”
That’s more Trump’s class and style.
We’d love to represent you Mr. President but we have a rather ironclad rule around here about the expectation of actually being paid for our services, our clients actually acting on our advice and the need to protect our reputation so that we’ll continue to be in business after you have shuffled off this mortal coil. Other than those considerations, we’d love to work with you.