Good help is hard to find, especially when you don’t listen to their advice. Donald Trump has lost two lawyers this week from his legal team, one who had been on board less than a week. The New York Times reports this morning that Trump’s legal team has “essentially shrunk to one person, and the President is struggling to find anyone to defend him.” Jay Sekulow is the last lawyer remaining. According to The Times:
- “Working for a president is usually seen as a dream job. But leading white-collar lawyers in Washington and New York have repeatedly spurned overtures to take over the defense of Mr. Trump, a mercurial client who often ignores his advisers’ guidance.”
- “In some cases, lawyers’ firms have blocked any talks, fearing a backlash that would hurt business.”
- “Joseph diGenova … left the team [yesterday]. He had been hired last Monday, three days before the head of the president’s personal legal team, John Dowd, quit after determining that the president was not listening to his advice.”
But Trump says finding legal help is no problem:
Many lawyers and top law firms want to represent me in the Russia case…don’t believe the Fake News narrative that it is hard to find a lawyer who wants to take this on. Fame & fortune will NEVER be turned down by a lawyer, though some are conflicted. Problem is that a new……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 25, 2018
“You have a client who clearly thinks he has a better idea of how things should work than the lawyers who, from time to time, have told him things he doesn’t want to hear,” he added. “He is looking for the guy who can say, ‘I know how to handle Mueller, I know you think he is bad, and we’ll take care of it.’ Problem is you can’t find that lawyer because no one will be able to do that.”–Roger Cossack, legal analyst
The Daily Beast reports Sekulow isn’t completely alone. He has three attorneys helping him from the conservative American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ).