Reacting to reports that a great part of Donald Trump's legal problems stem from him dismissing his attorney's advice because they refuse to tell him what he wants to hear, Salon columnist Amanda Marcotte made the case that one non-lawyer Trump adviser whose counsel he appears to be following is playing the former president for personal gain.
According to Marcotte, Trump is facing a 37-count federal indictment related to stolen government documents recovered from his Mar-a-Lago resort because he listened to the "yes men" around him and not his lawyers who pushed him to return the boxes of files.
Chief among those who urged the president to defy the Department of Justice is Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch who, despite what the name of his organization implies, is not a lawyer.
According to a report from the Washington Post, lawyers who have not departed the Trump legal brain trust want Fitton gone because he is making their jobs, if not impossible, harder than it should be considering the circumstances.
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The Post is reporting, "Trump time and again rejected the advice from lawyers and advisers who urged him to cooperate and instead took the advice of Tom Fitton, the head of the conservative group Judicial Watch, and a range of others who told him he could legally keep the documents and should fight the Justice Department, advisers said. Trump would often cite Fitton to others, and Fitton told some of Trump’s lawyers that Trump could keep the documents, even as they disagreed, the advisers said."
According to Marcotte, Fitton has been playing on Trump's narcissism to get his ear and that his advice to Trump is bad for the former president who could be facing prison time for violations of the Espionage Act -- and good for Fitton's organization's bottom line.
In her column, she wrote: "Fitton's 'advice' deserves scare quotes, as Fitton is not actually Trump's attorney. Fitton's priorities are raising money and stoking conspiracy theories, not protecting Trump. So of course he wants Trump to get belligerent with federal authorities."
"The more legal risks Trump takes, the more fodder for Fitton's propaganda-and-fundraising apparatus," she continued. "If Trump goes to jail, it's even better for Fitton, who will use Trump as a martyr in fundraising emails for Judicial Watch. Unsurprisingly, Fitton is still goading Trump into more legal trouble, by giving interviews unsubtly encouraging Trump to defy the judge's orders not to talk about the case with witnesses."
"Judicial Watch probably already has a draft email ready to ask for money if Trump gets cited for contempt of court," she suggested.
You can read more here.
