Let’s make this very clear: there is nothing inherently wrong with representing Donald Trump in his various legal battles. I’d even go so far as to say representing one of the most controversial people on earth is a good thing.
You all know my personal feelings about the man. But we don’t deny legal defenses to people just because they have no redeeming qualities except for an absolutely epic troll game. And that goes double for when the alleged offences are serious, the issues involved are novel, and the stakes - for the legal system and for society at large - are extremely high.
After the search and retrieval of documents from Mar-a-Lago, and now news that Trump’s former CFO took a plea deal in exchange for testifying in court against The Trump Organization, it sure seems like Trump and/or his company will be on trial before long.
And according to The Washington Post, Trump is having serious trouble finding legal counsel who might be up to the job:
Former president Donald Trump and close aides have spent the eight days since the FBI searched his Florida home rushing to assemble a team of respected defense lawyers. But the answer they keep hearing is “no.”
The struggle to find expert legal advice puts Trump in a bind as he faces potential criminal exposure from a records dispute with the National Archives that escalated into a federal investigation into possible violations of the Espionage Act and other statutes.
“Everyone is saying no,” said a prominent Republican lawyer, who like some others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential conversations.
Trump is no stranger to legal proceedings, and his scramble to hire lawyers in the face of an ominous federal probe recalls his predicament in the summer of 2017, when he was under scrutiny from special counsel Robert S. Mueller III in the Russia probe. Once again, Trump is struggling to find a veteran criminal defense lawyer with a strong track record of dealing with the Justice Department in a sprawling, multipronged investigation.
Longtime confidants and advisers of Trump have grown extremely worried about Trump’s current stable of lawyers, noting that most of them have little to no experience in cases of this type, according to two people familiar with the internal discussions.
There is always some tension between the principle that everyone is entitled to a legal defense, and whether a lawyer is even able to properly represent a client he or she despises. If you are indifferent about whether your client goes to jail, you probably won’t represent that person to the best of your ability. And failing to do so is unethical.
It could be that every qualified lawyer hates Trump so much that they don’t believe that can appropriately work for him. On the other hand, if lawyers are wary of representing because they’ll get doxxed for it, that is extremely disturbing and frankly illiberal. (Is The Lincoln Project still a thing? They’ve had their own legal problems you know.)
Most likely, though, it’s because everyone knows that if you represent Donald John Trump in court, he won’t listen to your instructions nor take your advice, and you’ll likely get stiffed on the bill:
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