Zippyjuan
03-25-2018, 11:49 AM
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-lawyers/trump-not-adding-two-lawyers-to-legal-team-citing-conflicts-idUSKBN1H10P0
(Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump will not hire two lawyers to his legal team handling the special counsel’s probe despite announcing their addition last week, Trump’s personal lawyer said on Sunday, adding to uncertainty about the president’s legal representation in the Russia investigation.
“The president is disappointed that conflicts prevent Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing from joining the president’s special counsel legal team,” Jay Sekulow said in a statement. “However, those conflicts do not prevent them from assisting the president in other legal matters. The president looks forward to working with them.’
The announcement came nearly a week after Sekulow said diGenova would join the legal team handling Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia in the 2016 presidential election.
The quick reversal is likely to add to the perception that Trump’s legal representation is in disarray as his lawyers have been negotiating the terms of a possible interview with the president.
Trump’s lead lawyer in the special counsel investigation, John Dowd, resigned Thursday.
“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,” Trump tweeted on Sunday.
“We thank the president for his confidence in us and we look forward to working with him,” on other matters, Toensing said in a statement on behalf of both her and diGenova. The married pair work together at their namesake law firm.
Toensing declined to comment on what specific conflicts may have led to the work on the Russia legal team falling through.
DiGenova & Toensing has represented Mark Corallo, a former spokesman for Trump’s legal team, and Sam Clovis, a former campaign aide.
Corallo was the spokesman for Trump’s outside lawyers until last summer, when he resigned during another legal team shake-up.
Since then, Corallo has spoken with Mueller about what he viewed as a false statement dictated by Trump from Air Force One about a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower in New York City that included several Russians, according to a person familiar with the matter. That meeting was attended by Trump’s son, Donald Jr.
Clovis, a former Pentagon official, was a campaign supervisor who wrote “great work” in an email after Trump’s foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos discussed efforts to broker a meeting between the campaign and Russian leaders.
Corallo told Reuters on Friday that he had signed a waiver of potential conflicts last week.
Clovis could not be reached for comment, but a person familiar with the matter said appropriate waivers had been signed.
DiGenova was at the White House on Thursday, according to a person familiar with the meeting.
Trump has had trouble finding outside lawyers to assist him in the Russia probe.
Major firms such as Williams & Connolly and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher turned him down in the last year, citing conflicts, people familiar with the matter have told Reuters.
Trump representatives have reached out to some of those firms again more recently, sources said.
Donald J. Trump
Verified account
@realDonaldTrump
Follow Follow @realDonaldTrump
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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
....lawyer or law firm will take months to get up to speed (if for no other reason than they can bill more), which is unfair to our great country - and I am very happy with my existing team. Besides, there was NO COLLUSION with Russia, except by Crooked Hillary and the Dems!
At least four defense attorneys at major law firms were approached to join Trump's legal team in recent weeks, but some turned the offer down, multiple sources familiar with the inquiries have told CNN.
The lawyers include former US Solicitor General Ted Olson; Emmet Flood, who's worked for multiple presidents; and Robert Bennett, Bill Clinton's attorney in the Paula Jones litigation.
Some have turned down the offer for various reasons, including concern that the President doesn't listen to his lawyers and that their law firms represented other clients that would pose conflicts, according to multiple sources familiar with the inquiries. Two sources told CNN last week that Flood is still under consideration. If he did decide to go to the White House, potentially for a position in the counsel's office unrelated to the Russia defense team, he would likely leave his firm, which has conflicts that would prevent them from taking the President on as a client.
Olson's firm, Gibson Dunn, decided there were too many conflicts with existing clients tied to the Russia investigation and did not support the move, sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
Gibson Dunn represents Fusion GPS, the firm that hired a former British intelligence officer to compile a dossier of alleged ties between Russians and Trump and his campaign associates. It also represents Facebook, which is mired in a controversy over its relationship with data firm Cambridge Analytica, which a former employee claimed misused the personal data of about 50 million users of the social media platform.
On Thursday, the lawyer leading the team handling the President's response to the Russia investigation, John Dowd, resigned as his disagreements with Trump intensified and the President stepped up attacks on special counsel Robert Mueller.
At least five large law firms, including Flood's and Olson's, had previously declined to work for the president last year during his initial search for a defense team.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/25/politics/trump-tweet-lawyers/index.html
(Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump will not hire two lawyers to his legal team handling the special counsel’s probe despite announcing their addition last week, Trump’s personal lawyer said on Sunday, adding to uncertainty about the president’s legal representation in the Russia investigation.
“The president is disappointed that conflicts prevent Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing from joining the president’s special counsel legal team,” Jay Sekulow said in a statement. “However, those conflicts do not prevent them from assisting the president in other legal matters. The president looks forward to working with them.’
The announcement came nearly a week after Sekulow said diGenova would join the legal team handling Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia in the 2016 presidential election.
The quick reversal is likely to add to the perception that Trump’s legal representation is in disarray as his lawyers have been negotiating the terms of a possible interview with the president.
Trump’s lead lawyer in the special counsel investigation, John Dowd, resigned Thursday.
“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,” Trump tweeted on Sunday.
“We thank the president for his confidence in us and we look forward to working with him,” on other matters, Toensing said in a statement on behalf of both her and diGenova. The married pair work together at their namesake law firm.
Toensing declined to comment on what specific conflicts may have led to the work on the Russia legal team falling through.
DiGenova & Toensing has represented Mark Corallo, a former spokesman for Trump’s legal team, and Sam Clovis, a former campaign aide.
Corallo was the spokesman for Trump’s outside lawyers until last summer, when he resigned during another legal team shake-up.
Since then, Corallo has spoken with Mueller about what he viewed as a false statement dictated by Trump from Air Force One about a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower in New York City that included several Russians, according to a person familiar with the matter. That meeting was attended by Trump’s son, Donald Jr.
Clovis, a former Pentagon official, was a campaign supervisor who wrote “great work” in an email after Trump’s foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos discussed efforts to broker a meeting between the campaign and Russian leaders.
Corallo told Reuters on Friday that he had signed a waiver of potential conflicts last week.
Clovis could not be reached for comment, but a person familiar with the matter said appropriate waivers had been signed.
DiGenova was at the White House on Thursday, according to a person familiar with the meeting.
Trump has had trouble finding outside lawyers to assist him in the Russia probe.
Major firms such as Williams & Connolly and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher turned him down in the last year, citing conflicts, people familiar with the matter have told Reuters.
Trump representatives have reached out to some of those firms again more recently, sources said.
Donald J. Trump
Verified account
@realDonaldTrump
Follow Follow @realDonaldTrump
More
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
....lawyer or law firm will take months to get up to speed (if for no other reason than they can bill more), which is unfair to our great country - and I am very happy with my existing team. Besides, there was NO COLLUSION with Russia, except by Crooked Hillary and the Dems!
At least four defense attorneys at major law firms were approached to join Trump's legal team in recent weeks, but some turned the offer down, multiple sources familiar with the inquiries have told CNN.
The lawyers include former US Solicitor General Ted Olson; Emmet Flood, who's worked for multiple presidents; and Robert Bennett, Bill Clinton's attorney in the Paula Jones litigation.
Some have turned down the offer for various reasons, including concern that the President doesn't listen to his lawyers and that their law firms represented other clients that would pose conflicts, according to multiple sources familiar with the inquiries. Two sources told CNN last week that Flood is still under consideration. If he did decide to go to the White House, potentially for a position in the counsel's office unrelated to the Russia defense team, he would likely leave his firm, which has conflicts that would prevent them from taking the President on as a client.
Olson's firm, Gibson Dunn, decided there were too many conflicts with existing clients tied to the Russia investigation and did not support the move, sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
Gibson Dunn represents Fusion GPS, the firm that hired a former British intelligence officer to compile a dossier of alleged ties between Russians and Trump and his campaign associates. It also represents Facebook, which is mired in a controversy over its relationship with data firm Cambridge Analytica, which a former employee claimed misused the personal data of about 50 million users of the social media platform.
On Thursday, the lawyer leading the team handling the President's response to the Russia investigation, John Dowd, resigned as his disagreements with Trump intensified and the President stepped up attacks on special counsel Robert Mueller.
At least five large law firms, including Flood's and Olson's, had previously declined to work for the president last year during his initial search for a defense team.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/25/politics/trump-tweet-lawyers/index.html