Today we learned that Donald Trump’s erstwhile lead Russia lawyer, John Dowd, was likely forced to step down rather opting to pursue new opportunities in the law, as originally claimed. That got me curious about Andrew J. Ekonomou, who is now apparently Trump’s new lead attorney since Dowd’s departure. Ekonomou does not appear to have ever worked at a major national law firm, ever worked in Washington, DC or even worked as a defense lawyer. What first attracted my attention was that in addition to being an attorney, Ekonomou is also a medieval historian who writes about the early medieval papacy and the Byzantine empire. As a lapsed PhD myself I thought, if nothing else, this is a great story of PhDs finding alternative career tracks outside the academy!
But Ekonomou’s story actually gets so much better. Read More
So who ratted out John Dowd and his offers or hints of offers of pardons to Trump’s top aides who found themselves in Robert Mueller’s crosshairs? I think we can make a pretty solid educated guess.
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Very good point about that van der Zwaan sentencing document from TPM Reader JO …
Beyond the connection to “Person A”, what seems most notable about the van der Zwaan pleading is that he refused to cooperate with Mueller. Unlike Gates, who agreed to cooperate with Mueller in exchange for lenience, van der Zwaan has simply pled guilty. This is why Mueller’s sentencing document is so harsh.
