One has to figure that Donald Trump is planning ahead, given he’s likely facing at least three indictments in Washington DC alone. But Trump has a problem beyond just being indicted.
Trump cannot find enough lawyers to represent him.
To make it even worse, Trump isn’t making the phone calls himself, which one would think would benefit him. It is a lot harder to say “No” to a 30-year-old staffer than to an ex-president of the United States.
If a normal president was in trouble, attorneys would engage in a gunfight outside Mar-a-Lago to represent him.
Trump is not a normal president.
Many people think it’s a money thing, and lawyers are afraid that they won’t get paid. Well, maybe it used to be that way.
But now attorneys have wisened up to Trump’s ways, and the attorneys could demand $500,000 to one million, all upfront, to hold in their trust account.
They would then return everything back to Trump if the bill came to less than the number.
Once a month, when the bill is due, the attorney simply writes a check from the trust account to themselves. If Trump needs lawyers, he’ll pay it.
Correction. His MAGAs donations will pay it through a tiny disclaimer.
So it’s not the money.
Attorneys, especially criminal lawyers, are pretty savvy, and they’ve picked up a pattern, according to a report in Rolling Stone.
Lawyers who represent Trump often find themselves needing criminal lawyers to work on their own personal indictment.
That sounds like an easy problem to avoid. Yet Trump has a gift, a certain je ne sais quoi about him that gets lawyers into legal trouble.
Some just see the entire DC insurrection case as a foregone conclusion.
Trump is going to lose, and they want no part of being blasted by Trump and forever being labeled “the lawyer that couldn’t even get Trump off,” by the MAGAs. From Rolling Stone’s report:
“Some attorneys who’ve discussed the investigation with Trump and his close associates believe the case is a certain loser for the defense, arguing, among other things, that Trump’s loss at the initial trial is a foregone conclusion in Washington, D.C.”
Smart.
Because there is also the fact that Washington DC, as opposed to the area around Fort Pierce, Florida, is an awfully blue district. Jurors can usually be counted on to take their jobs seriously and set aside all political matters.
Jurors in Washington DC will likely have “felt” or seen the smoke on January 6th, 2021, and perhaps even knew one of the police officers who were injured or killed. It would be difficult.
As if that list wasn’t enough, Trump also wants to use the trial to relitigate the November election and President Biden supposedly “stealing the election.”
Trump is hoping that the trial will be televised and he can prove to the nation that he won.
That would almost require Trump to testify.
And therein is the last nail in the coffin. No one wants to represent a client who won’t listen to their advice. No lawyer would suggest that Trump testify.
Just try to imagine the world’s most infamous liar cross-examined by one of the most experienced litigators in Jack Smith’s team.
Now, the judge will place a lot of limits on Trump’s attempt to relitigate the entire election, but some of the charges, including attempting to justify telling Mike Pence to ignore the 12th amendment nearly require Trump to testify.
There will also be testimony about whether Trump knew he had lost, and it would just take one or two witnesses saying he lost to confirm that.
Those accusations might invite some evidence to relitigate the 2020 election.
Try to imagine the many ways Trump could hang himself in such a situation.
The report doesn’t include any difficulty in finding attorneys in Georgia.
The Georgia case will involve very complex litigation and a lot of defendants. There could be — possibly — some legitimate defenses that wouldn’t embarrass the lawyers.
But Trump has a serious problem in Washington DC, with the crimes that carry the highest minimum sentences.
He surely knows by now that he will not get one of the power litigators in Washington and will have to go with a mid-level mega MAGA who feels a sense of duty.
Ironic. If thousands of people didn’t descend on Washington out of a sense of duty, Trump would likely not have been charged with these crimes.
This report is based largely on original reporting by Adam Rawnsley and Asawi Subsaeng of Rolling Stone.
I can be reached jasonmiciak@gmail.com and on “X” @JasonMiciak
