In January 2021, Donald Trump was angry and isolated following his incitement of the insurrection. He sat alone in the White House, fuming about how Mike Pence and Rudy Giuliani screwed him over. He was mad at Pence because Pence wouldn’t overthrow the government for him. He was mad at Rudy because Rudy’s Angry Fart Tour had failed to disenfranchise voters. It was during that time that Trump decided that he was not going to pay Rudy Giuliani anything for traveling around the country for weeks, making an ass out of himself on Trump’s behalf. Maybe Trump was never going to pay Rudy – after all, Trump has a lengthy history of refusing to pay people. I bring this up because Donald Trump is apparently having a hell of a time hiring qualified lawyers right now. Perhaps that’s because he refused to pay his last lawyer, who was a drunken, fart-soaked Covid super-spreading maniac?
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. 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.
Ordinarily, the prestige and publicity of representing a former president, as well as the new and complex legal issues at stake in this case, would attract high-powered attorneys. But Trump’s search is being hampered by his divisiveness, as well as his reputation for stiffing vendors and ignoring advice.
“In olden days, he would tell firms representing him was a benefit because they could advertise off it. Today it’s not the same,” said Michael Cohen, a former lawyer for Trump who was convicted of tax evasion, false statements, campaign finance violations and lying to Congress in 2018. “He’s also a very difficult client in that he’s always pushing the envelope, he rarely listens to sound legal advice, and he wants you to do things that are not appropriate, ethically or legally.”
One lawyer told a story from early in Trump’s presidency of his legal team urging him against tweeting about the Mueller probe, only to find he’d tweeted about it before they got to the end of the West Wing driveway. Several people said Trump was nearly impossible to represent and that it would be unclear if they would ever get paid.
In summary, Donald Trump is too broke-ass, cheap, mobbed up, guilty and senile for any respectable lawyer to agree to represent him. No lawyer wants to spend months trying to give Trump reasonable legal advice only for him to post crazy sh-t to Truth Social and then refuse to pay the bill as he waddles off to prison. It would be hilarious if the only lawyers who agreed to represent Trump were ambulance-chasing con artists. Those guys are probably saying no to him too!
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- United States President Donald J. Trump speaks during a Cabinet Meeting at the White House in Washington, DC on October 21, 2019. Credit: Yuri Gripas / Pool via CNP | usage worldwide
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- United States President Donald J. Trump with US Vice President Mike Pence, make remarks as he meets with with industry executives on COVID-19 response in the Cabinet Room of the White House, April 27, 2020. Credit: Doug Mills / Pool via CNP | usage worldwide
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- United States President Donald J. Trump departs the White House in Washington D.C., U.S. to deliver remarks on Medicare in Florida on October 3, 2019. Credit: Stefani Reynolds / CNP | usage worldwide
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- United States President Donald J. Trump delivers remarks as he departs the White House to visit a Whirlpool corporation manufacturing plant in Ohio, on Thursday, August 6, 2020, in Washington, DC. Credit: Kevin Dietsch / Pool via CNP | usage worldwide
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- (190110) — WASHINGTON, Jan. 10, 2019 () — U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before leaving the White House in Washington D.C., the United States, on Jan. 10, 2019. Donald Trump said Thursday he “would almost say definitely” that he would declare a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border, a controversial option he has been publicly contemplating since last week. (/Ting Shen)
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- United States President Donald J. Trump speaks to White House workers as he walks on the South Lawn of the White House after arriving on Marine One in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Sunday, Aug. 16, 2020. Joe Biden maintains a solid lead over Trump on the eve of the Democratic National Convention, according to polls that at least partly reflected his choice of Senator Kamala Harris as running mate.
ALL of the smile emojis for this one!
I, for one, am Shocked.
Shocked, I say. Shocked!
A whole ass bum. What a life and these fools still are trying to go after the FBI for him. Losers.
I thought he just hired a former DOJ guy to rep him? Am I wrong? Was that spin? Either way, BWAHAHAHAHA!
That’s James Trusty, who did work in DOJ as a prosecutor. According to the WaPo article, “He has recently represented clients accused of financial fraud, defrauding the U.S. Department of Agriculture and trading in counterfeit military uniforms. He referred questions to Trump’s spokesman.”
He’s by far the most experienced attorney on this ragtag legal team, which seems…not great, considering what Trump is facing. One of the other attorneys has only been practicing since 2014.
They know he doesn’t pay for services rendered.
This all day long. Not paying people is a foundational practice in the Trump business model.
This 100%. No way anyone is going to want to try to defend THAT, for free.
I really, really want some mob lawyers to come to his aid! See how he gets on then. They have ways… wink 😉]Maybe they don’t want to touch him with a barge pole, either? Shucks.
I don’t get it. Lawyers hate two things: clients who lie to them, and clients who don’t pay. Trump’s reputation for stiffing people goes back decades, so why would anyone with sense think they’d be exempt? And he’s never been noted for being sane to deal with, so there’s that…
The whole world is just so SICK,,, of hearing about this horrible, corrupt, gross pig of a man…
BWHAHA!!!!
So funny! Who knew that if you don’t pay people, you don’t listen to advise, and you put THEM in legal jeopardy that it would come around to bite you in the ass? The schadenfreude is delicious.
Michael van der Veen, who represented Trump in his second impeachment, is LITERALLY an ambulance chaser. Trump plucked him from obscurity, and I’ll bet he never paid the bill.
Trump has gone through all the ambulance chasers…. Aka, Jenna Ellis, who got COVID from a Rudy fart.
Put him away for treason already! He’ll lie under oath. He’s scum. He ripped off students and charities . He is horrible
Merrick Garland has said this is the biggest investigation in the history of the US. A former POTUS, who’s also arguably the worst client in US history, is credibly accused of treason, among many other crimes. And he doesn’t pay his bills.
No competent attorney would touch this case with a ten foot pole.
And yet he has faithful followers!! Some of my oldest friends post Trump positive statements or re-post Trump ads on Facebook. And these are bright people! I just don’t get it. How much more harm can he do before it’s “enough”.
He’s Donald and he’s filthy rich thanks to his gullible audience. Why can’t an attorney request a potential $6million retainer from him? As I understand it, retainers are paid up front. Is there a limit on retainers in the US? I don’t understand why this hasn’t been suggested.
They could, if they were inclined to take the case. TFG would probably refuse to pay it because he’s broke-ass and probably still thinks he can talk his way out of this and that he knows more than the lawyers. He also willfully disregards legal advice and undermines his own interests, and the kinds of attorneys who have experience in this rarefied practice area don’t need his bullsh!t.
There is also the fact that he is so polarizing that any competent attorney would decline just so that they wouldn’t get tarred and feathered with Trump-stink for defending him. Which, as someone who admires the ideals of our judicial system, is a shame, because everyone deserves a zealous defense, but as someone who was, is, and remains horrified that this thing ever occupied the Oval, fills me with delight because he has done nothing but commit crimes for decades and I want those chickens to come home to roost.
Yeah. I know the guy behind Cyber Ninjas (and his wife). They were good friends of mine once upon a time, before they got wrapped up in some hardcore evangelical brainwashing that eventually separated them from a lot of their old relationships. They’re intelligent and caring people, at the core. I don’t believe that changes and that they believe they’re doing the right thing, but are deeply misguided. I would never defend the choice to “find the fraud” no matter who is doing it, but it is a bit weird to know the person is truly not a monster – even if the Cyber Ninjas Website reads like a playbook. Oh, and it does.
These people are just as scary as he is. It certainly tells you a lot about them. Anybody who still supports this POS, isn’t anybody that I want to know or ever be friends with.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
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(deep breath)
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
(Took the words right out of my chortling mouth!)
Where’s Sidney Powell when you need her?!
Sweating it out over her billion dollar lawsuit I’d imagine 😂
Another good point – not only do his lawyers get stiffed on their bills, but then they get sued! For billions!!!
She is currently fighting to keep her license.
Better Call Saul!!!!
I believe he has a trio of lawyers currently who are all attractive young women and who are lawyers, but not experienced in national security, espionage, or other legal areas related to his case. The Independent reported on it here: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-lawyers-conspiracies-fbi-raid-b2145687.html
I have to believe these women are in it for the notoriety. And since he is known to not pay, they think the bigger paycheck is getting a gig on Fox News or launching alt-right influencer careers. Because otherwise, this is quite comical and these ladies are primed to get burned if they do not know how to grift off of this.
Q: If Trump cannot hire a lawyer (if you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed…) does that mean he gets assigned a public defender?
Which would mean taxpayers would be paying for both the prosecutors and the defense?
Or could this never happen? Would he be forced to sell stuff to pay attorneys before a public defender could be assigned?
The only time I ever hired a lawyer, they wanted a lot of money up front..before they did one thing on my behalf, I paid them a big (to me it was a very big) retainer. When they asked for more money after writing a VERY POOR letter on my ‘behalf’ (very poor meaning lots of grammatically incorrect language, some spelling mistakes, and a weak ass, sideways approach to the issue, which seemed to me a less than hearty defense on my behalf, etc).
So wouldn’t Trump have to come up with a gigantic amount of money to hire a lawyer in the first place?
I asked the same thing above. I should have read a little further, but as they say, great minds think alike.
He won’t qualify for a public defender since he does have some money (not as much as he wants us to think). He also almost certainly hasn’t paid any of them a retainer. You can ask for a retainer, but you can’t force a client to write a check.
So you either decline to represent him (as many have done/are doing) or you bill your time in your system knowing he’s not ever going to pay the invoice, which I think is what they’re doing.
No one wants to represent him because he doesn’t pay, he doesn’t listen to their professional advice and more importantly, it’s obvious by now that if you work for Trump you will inevitably be asked to crime. I’d be real pissed off if I was the lawyer who signed the document saying they didn’t have anymore classified materials.
This thought comes to mind: Some attorneys may figure that besides the amount of $$$$$ they will be paid for services rendered, they may also be concerned about their REPUTATIONS. The lawyers who could so-call defend Take-A-💩 may be thinking in that mode. If any were to be retained by him, these could be the type to hardly care less of their public standing. On the other hand, the ones who are concerned about their statures are not going to touch his cases with a 10-foot pole; they want to keep their name/firm’s name in a good light, along with still having a client base for their profession. #DEALINGWITHTRUMPISVERYBADFORBUSINESS!! 👆☝🏽
Haha! And even the shitty ones have dropped him in the past. This should turn out splendidly for him.
I thought the RNC was paying his legal bills? Didn’t I read that they threatened to stop paying if he announced he was running for president before the midterms?
Ten years ago a friend of mine was working at a small marketing agency (about 15 people employed). They took on Trump as a client to market some of his real estate. They delivered on all they were supposed to deliver on and Trump decided not to pay them. Their reasoning was that they can get other clients by letting them know their agency represented Trump. First in NYC no one has respect for Trump (for these same exact tactics) so getting new clients because their represented Trump wasn’t going to work. Because it was such a big client for them with a big workload, they had to lay off 1/4 of their workers to keep the agency afloat and the owner took a pay cut for himself. My friend luckily kept her job but we all had first hand knowledge now of how the Trumps grift and cheat their way through life. That is why they purposely sort out a small agency because they knew it would be costly for the agency to sue the Trumps. He has done this ALL his life. Since Trump won the election he has raised hundreds of millions of dollars so he should have enough to pay lawyers but he won’t. Any reputable and capable law firm I am sure is taking a hard No to representing his crime family. 😂
Thank you for sharing this. Another reason to be completely disgusted not only by him but his family as well for being employed by him and complicit. Ivanka (before the election) worked closely with him in acquisition and merger and had to know the financial trickery that the business employed. I have to Google this to refresh my memory, but Ivanka was also sued for non payment after a project but I can’t recall the specifics.
Ivanka’s brand was also sued a few times for design theft. I mean flat out, bold design theft. She did it to mid level luxury brands like Darryl K and Aquazzura who decided to fight back and send her a “cease and desist” document to get the product off the market. Like father, like daughter.
Looking this up there was complaints that the Post Office renovation bills were still outstanding but no evidence that the stiffed contractors sued. This was mostly Ivankas project
What about Alan Dershowitz? I bet he’d do it. He used to enjoy getting murderers off the hook (men who killed their wives). He used to be Trump’s attorney too. He won’t bite now? Is it because his friends in Cape Cod and the Hamptons stopped speaking to him? Or what?
Weren’t Dershowitz and Trump together on Jeffrey E plane? Wasn’t he named by Virginia G as a party to assault? Maybe he’s trying to lie low and not give people a chance to remember his name. Out of sight, out of mind.
Also, I think Trump has millions or billions of dollars in offshore accounts. I don’t believe he’s broke by any means because he’s always been a kleptocrat, even before he (as God’s joke or punishment) became president.
On the first read, I agreed with you. Then I wondered if he really is smart enough to do this or has he rejected the advise of financial planners because he knows more than they do, thinking he’s the smartest guy in the room and doesn’t need offshore accounts. His narcissism is boundless so it’s difficult to assess what an ordinary, prudent person would do. I have a feeling he is very close to being in real financial trouble, and he wouldn’t be begging for donations if he had a billion stashed away.
What worse is that they could end up prosecuted and in jail! People around Trump get in some heat!