Letitia James
Trump should be seeking a plea deal — but his lawyers can’t protect him from himself: analysis
August 31, 2022 4:25PM ET
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Legal experts panned Donald Trump on Wednesday for having the "worst lawyers" and explained why even the best attorneys in the land may be unable to save the former president from his legal woes.
Legal and political experts weighed in on Wednesday after the Department of Justice deployed a "legal battering ram" in a 36-page late-night court filing with 18-pages of exhibits.
Former acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal tweeted, "If this were any normal client, and any normal lawyer, we'd be talking about a plea today."
Former federal prosecutor Mitchell Epner, using the acronym "FPOTUS" for "former president of the United States" as DOJ lawyers did, suggested that Trump's legal team may be irrelevant to his defense.
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"The highly respected attorney FPOTUS hired yesterday (Christopher Kise) didn't stop him from [posting] damning admissions earlier today [on Truth Social] in response to the DOJ filing," Epner wrote.
"Even if FPOTUS had the best lawyers in the world, they can't protect him from himself," Epner explained.
Attorney Teri Kanefield suggested that Trump's lawyers not only can't protect him, but can only get themselves in trouble.
"Trump hires lawyers to do his bidding (not give him legal advice) and this tends to get his lawyers into trouble," Kanefield wrote.
Tristan Snell, who prosecuted Trump University at the New York Attorney General's Office, wrote, "At this point, any lawyer who works with Trump is fully aware of the risks and should know they’re risking disbarment — if not indictment."
"Trump's lawyers always end up needing lawyers," he added.
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That was the situation for multiple attorneys.
Also on Wednesday, The New York Timesreported, "Two lawyers for former President Donald J. Trump are likely to become witnesses or targets in the investigation into how he hoarded documents marked as classified at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida estate — and secretly held onto some even after the lawyers claimed all sensitive materials had been returned, legal specialists said. The lawyers, M. Evan Corcoran and Christina Bobb, handled Mr. Trump’s interactions with the government over a subpoena in May seeking additional material marked as classified. In a court filing late Tuesday, the Justice Department strongly suggested that people in Mr. Trump’s circle concealed documents in defiance of that subpoena, putting a spotlight on the lawyers’ actions."
Corcoran and Bobb weren't the only attorney's implicated in DOJ's late-night filing.
Politico reported, "Just six days before the Justice Department subpoenaed to recover highly sensitive documents housed at Mar-a-Lago, one of Former President Donald Trump’s attorneys scoured the estate searching for records in response to a separate legal matter. The attorney, Alina Habba, told a New York State court that on May 5, she conducted a search of Trump’s private residence and office at Mar-a-Lago that was so 'diligent' it included “all desks, drawers, nightstands, dressers, closets, etc.” She was looking for records in response to a subpoena issued by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is investigating matters related to the Trump Organization."
Habba reportedly indicated she had done a similar search at Trump's Bedminster estate.
"The filing submitted to the New York AG’s office raises key questions in relation to the separate Mar-a-Lago probe, chiefly, whether Habba ended up handling any of the documents that DOJ later discovered at Trump’s club; and, if so, whether she has the clearance to have done so," Politico reported. "In her sworn affidavit, Habba said that she searched many of the locations that would later be scrutinized by the FBI during its Aug. 8 search of Mar-a-Lago — and where investigators say they uncovered a significant volume of highly classified government secrets."
Trump attorneys weren't just facing scrutiny in Florida and New York on Wednesday, but also in Georgia.
"John Eastman, the lawyer who developed strategies to block certification of the 2020 election, is 'probably a target' in the criminal investigation into efforts to overturn Donald J. Trump’s election loss in Georgia, one of Mr. Eastman’s lawyers said on Wednesday. Mr. Eastman spent the morning appearing before an Atlanta special grand jury looking into the matter," The New York Times reported.
Attorney Bradley Moss concluded, "Trump simply has the worst lawyers."
Conservative political scientist expert Norm Ornstein predicted Trump lawyers will find themselves incarcerated.
Ornstein wrote, "Memo to prisoners in federal penitentiaries looking for help filing appeals: do not rely on the Trump lawyers who will soon be your cellmates!"
But the legal liability facing Trump's lawyers could put additional pressure on Attorney General Merrick Garland to prosecute Trump, according to former acting Solicitor General Katyal.
"It would be a betrayal of the rule of law for only Trump’s lawyers to go to jail, and not the client himself," Katyal wrote. "I do not see how DOJ can look the other way."
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