Rick Perry Hires Top McCain 2008 Aide Steve Schmidt

With a cutout of Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. at left, McCain adviser Steve Schmidt comes to the back of the airplane to speak to reporters on board the Straight Talk Air campaign chart... With a cutout of Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. at left, McCain adviser Steve Schmidt comes to the back of the airplane to speak to reporters on board the Straight Talk Air campaign charter airplane, Monday, Aug. 25, 2008. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) has hired Steve Schmidt to assist with strategy in fighting criminal charges against him for abuse of power, as first reported by Politico.

Schmidt, a longtime Republican strategist, was a senior campaign adviser and strategist in John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign.

The move is the latest in a series of high-profile hires to Perry’s legal team, which suggest that the rumored 2016 presidential hopeful is taking the indictment very seriously.

He recently hired Ben Ginsberg, a former George W. Bush lawyer, and Mark Fabiani, a former Bill Clinton lawyer and Al Gore’s 2000 campaign spokesman. Ginsberg and Fabiani were key figures, on opposing sides, during the 2000 recount.

Evan Smith, the editor-in-chief of the Texas Tribune, dubbed it an “Ocean’s Eleven-style” legal team.

Latest Livewire

Notable Replies

  1. For a ‘sketchy’ charge he sure lawyers up. Must be scared.

  2. This can mean only one thing. Perry will divorce Anita and marry the Whore of Babble On.

  3. Avatar for sjk sjk says:

    Perry must pay better than MSNBC…

  4. Yup, Bush and Clinton’s old attorneys and now McCain’s dude.

    I think he’s shitting bricks.

  5. Why does a innocent man need so many lawyers/advisers?

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

28 more replies

Participants

Avatar for system1 Avatar for looby Avatar for estamm Avatar for jw1 Avatar for toodumbtoknow Avatar for pickwick Avatar for avattoir Avatar for rollinnolan Avatar for teenlaqueefa Avatar for jimtoday Avatar for boscobrown Avatar for mantan Avatar for grawk Avatar for jjrothery Avatar for snarkus_aurelius Avatar for canadian Avatar for suicide_arsonist Avatar for pine Avatar for dnl Avatar for seehowtheyrun Avatar for sjk Avatar for meta Avatar for clauscph Avatar for antisachetdethe

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: