The former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara explained why President Donald Trump has been unable to hire qualified defense attorneys like O.J. Simpson's dream team, during an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper.
"I'm wondering what you make of these alleged conversations about pardons," Cooper said.
"I think like a lot of people, you find it kind of crazy," Bharara replied. "I think that the way you exercise your pardon power in a way that doesn't have the optics of looking like it's a quid-pro-quo, in other words the president will buy your silence by giving you a pardon if you agree in advance not to say anything bad about him and not to cooperate with the Mueller investigation."
"I have to imagine that the Mueller team has now talked to Flynn and talked to Flynn's lawyer and said, 'Well, what happened with respect to words used? Was there an offer made? Was there a wink? Was there a hint? Also, more importantly, was it clear that John Dowd was speaking on behalf of the president?'" he listed. "Was the president the one who was directing this, and that makes a lot of difference, I think."
"It seems not quite kosher," Bharara added.
"Just lastly on another subject, why do you think the president seems to be having such difficulty getting a legal team together here?" Cooper asked. "I mean O.J. Simpson got a dream team of attorneys."
"He did," Bharara agreed.
"The simplest reason is he's a terrible boss, he's a terrible client," the former prosecutor explained. "He doesn't listen to his lawyers, sometimes he doesn't pay his lawyers, he fires them ignominiously."
"These people aren't treated well, and some people may decide, I have money, I have a reputation, I don't want to do it,'" Bharara added.
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