Dennis Van Tine/AP
Donald Trump is struggling to find a lawyer…again. According to reports from the Washington Post, the ex-president, who’s facing 37 charges related to allegations of mishandling classified documents, spent most of the day before his arraignment searching for an advocate to take his case. Several high-profile Florida attorneys have declined the task, after two lawyers—Jim Trusty and John Rowley, who played until recently had played critical roles in Trump’s defense—unexpectedly resigned last week. Trusty and Rowley are the two latest departures from a rotating cast of Trump attorneys who have, over the years, often been entangled in nearly as much controversy as their infamous client.
“Without engaging in hyperbole, it’s arguably the biggest case in the world,” Jon Sale, a Florida defense attorney, told the Post. “But the cons are illustrated by three of his four lawyers quitting in the last few weeks. He needs a good Florida lawyer with an impeccable reputation who is very experienced in this.”
This is nothing new. Over the course of multiple state and federal investigations since the start of his 2016 campaign, Trump has struggled to keep legal representation. He even found himself in a similar pickle in August. As I wrote:
“Everyone is saying no,” an anonymous source told the Washington Post. Alan Dershowitz, the former Harvard Law School professor who has advised Trump in the past, didn’t seem too encouraging either, telling the Post that “good lawyers should have been working on this case for months.”
But clearly, such “good lawyers” have eluded Trump as he sinks further into a legal hot mess. Perhaps lawyers aren’t touching the case with a 10-foot pole in order to avoid the fate of Trump’s former personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, whose own role in the Big Lie now has him embroiled in the criminal investigation into election interference in Georgia. Let’s also recall that Giuliani’s deeply problematic television interviews were reportedly central to his firing from his own law firm. He eventually got his license suspended by the New York Bar last year.
Trump, who’ll be arraigned in a Miami courthouse on Tuesday at 3 pm, will be reportedly represented at the hearing by Todd Blanche, who’s also handling Trump’s Stormy Daniels case in New York, and Christopher Kise, a well-compensated Florida lawyer who’s reportedly led the charge to find Trump representation that fits within the state’s legal guidelines.
