It’s a long-known legal maxim—and a time-tested one.
When you’re facing a major life stress—such as a criminal indictment—you can’t be objective on your own behalf.
That’s why even brilliant lawyers hire other lawyers to represent them when they’re facing civil or criminal charges.
Of course, if you’re Donald Trump, all bets are off.
On June 13, he became the first ex-President to be formally booked by the Justice Department on federal charges.
Seal of the Department of Justice
He’s now facing 37 felony charges based on his retaining and hiding classified government documents from authorities.
These charges include:
- Willfully retaining national defense information: Storing 31 classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.
- Conspiring to obstruct justice: Conspiring to keep those documents from the grand jury.
- Withholding a document or a record: Misleading one of his attorneys by moving boxes of classified documents so the attorney could not find or introduce them to the grand jury.
- Concealing a document in a federal investigation: Hiding Trump’s possession of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago from the FBI and causing a false certificate to be submitted to the FBI.
- Scheme to conceal: Trump hid his continued possession of documents from the FBI and the grand jury.
- False statements and representations: Trump caused another of his attorneys to make false statements to the FBI and grand jury about the search at Mar-a-Lago.
Trump has long bragged that he is an expert on virtually everything.
Asked on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” who he consulted about foreign policy, Trump replied; “I’m speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain and I’ve said a lot of things.”
Donald Trump
Among the professions Trump has claimed to be an expert on
TV ratings: “I know more about people who get ratings than anyone.”
ISIS: “I know more about ISIS than the generals do.”
Social media: “I understand social media. I understand the power of Twitter. I understand the power of Facebook maybe better than almost anybody, based on my results, right?”
Courts: “I know more about courts than any human being on Earth.”
Lawsuits: “[W]ho knows more about lawsuits than I do? I’m the king.”
Politicians: “I understand politicians better than anybody.”
Trade: “Nobody knows more about trade than me.”
Nor is that by any means the end of his claimed expertise. If you believe him, he’s also an expert on:
- Drones
- Technology
- The economy
- Construction
- Democrats
- Infrastructure
- Debt
- Money
- Taxes.
So it’s inevitable that, when you believe you’re the smartest person on earth, you aren’t going to pay attention to a mere criminal attorney—even when you’re facing the most serious crisis of your life.
Not only did he reject the advice of one attorney—he rejected the advice of several.
According to The Washington Post, Trump was extremely stubborn about negotiating with government officials. When one of his attorneys, Christopher Kise, suggested meeting with the Justice Department to negotiate a settlement that could avoid charges, Trump rejected that plan.
Instead, he listened to the advice of Tom Fitton, the president of the Right-wing group Judicial Watch. Fitton, who is not an attorney, told him he could keep the documents and that he should fight the Justice Department.
Tom Fitton
Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Trump regularly cited Fitton to his advisers as he continued to fight the Justice Department. Several of those advisers blame Fitton for convincing Trump he had the right to keep the classified files.
Fitton told the Post he didn’t understand “any” of the indictment, saying he believed the charges levelled against the former president were a “trap.”
This, of course, did not persuade Trump that he should listen to attorneys who did understand the legal dangers he was facing.
Fitton blamed Trump’s lawyers for not being more aggressive in fighting the subpoenas issued by the government.
“They had no business asking for the records….and they’ve manufactured an obstruction charge out of that,” Fitton told the Post. “There are core constitutional issues that the indictment avoids, and the obstruction charge seems weak to me.”
But it won’t be Fitton who discovers whether the Justice Department has a weak case. It will be Trump.
Trump has had serious difficulties in finding attorneys to represent him in this case—and in the ones almost certain to arise before the year is out.
According to a June 14 story in Forbes: Trump was represented by two of his existing attorneys at his arraignment. They were not, however, specialists in national security and lacked a security clearance.
This last is a mandatory requirement, owing to the Espionage Act charges that involve classified national defense information.
Many attorneys have refused to represent Trump—including David O. Markus, who recently defended former Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum against corruption charges. Another, Howard Srebnick, was not allowed to represent Trump after talking to his legal partners.
Among the reasons lawyers don’t want to work for Trump:
- His difficult reputation;
- Using attorneys as attack dogs or political aides;
- Refusing to heed legal advice and
- Not paying his legal bills.
Donald Trump faces two major enemies: The Justice Department—and the private legal community.
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A FOOL FOR HIS CLIENT
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on June 29, 2023 at 12:18 am“A lawyer who pleads his own case has a fool for his client.”
It’s a long-known legal maxim—and a time-tested one.
When you’re facing a major life stress—such as a criminal indictment—you can’t be objective on your own behalf.
That’s why even brilliant lawyers hire other lawyers to represent them when they’re facing civil or criminal charges.
Of course, if you’re Donald Trump, all bets are off.
On June 13, he became the first ex-President to be formally booked by the Justice Department on federal charges.
Seal of the Department of Justice
He’s now facing 37 felony charges based on his retaining and hiding classified government documents from authorities.
These charges include:
Trump has long bragged that he is an expert on virtually everything.
Asked on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” who he consulted about foreign policy, Trump replied; “I’m speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain and I’ve said a lot of things.”
Donald Trump
Among the professions Trump has claimed to be an expert on
TV ratings: “I know more about people who get ratings than anyone.”
ISIS: “I know more about ISIS than the generals do.”
Social media: “I understand social media. I understand the power of Twitter. I understand the power of Facebook maybe better than almost anybody, based on my results, right?”
Courts: “I know more about courts than any human being on Earth.”
Lawsuits: “[W]ho knows more about lawsuits than I do? I’m the king.”
Politicians: “I understand politicians better than anybody.”
Trade: “Nobody knows more about trade than me.”
Nor is that by any means the end of his claimed expertise. If you believe him, he’s also an expert on:
So it’s inevitable that, when you believe you’re the smartest person on earth, you aren’t going to pay attention to a mere criminal attorney—even when you’re facing the most serious crisis of your life.
Not only did he reject the advice of one attorney—he rejected the advice of several.
According to The Washington Post, Trump was extremely stubborn about negotiating with government officials. When one of his attorneys, Christopher Kise, suggested meeting with the Justice Department to negotiate a settlement that could avoid charges, Trump rejected that plan.
Instead, he listened to the advice of Tom Fitton, the president of the Right-wing group Judicial Watch. Fitton, who is not an attorney, told him he could keep the documents and that he should fight the Justice Department.
Tom Fitton
Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Trump regularly cited Fitton to his advisers as he continued to fight the Justice Department. Several of those advisers blame Fitton for convincing Trump he had the right to keep the classified files.
Fitton told the Post he didn’t understand “any” of the indictment, saying he believed the charges levelled against the former president were a “trap.”
This, of course, did not persuade Trump that he should listen to attorneys who did understand the legal dangers he was facing.
Fitton blamed Trump’s lawyers for not being more aggressive in fighting the subpoenas issued by the government.
“They had no business asking for the records….and they’ve manufactured an obstruction charge out of that,” Fitton told the Post. “There are core constitutional issues that the indictment avoids, and the obstruction charge seems weak to me.”
But it won’t be Fitton who discovers whether the Justice Department has a weak case. It will be Trump.
Trump has had serious difficulties in finding attorneys to represent him in this case—and in the ones almost certain to arise before the year is out.
According to a June 14 story in Forbes: Trump was represented by two of his existing attorneys at his arraignment. They were not, however, specialists in national security and lacked a security clearance.
This last is a mandatory requirement, owing to the Espionage Act charges that involve classified national defense information.
Many attorneys have refused to represent Trump—including David O. Markus, who recently defended former Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum against corruption charges. Another, Howard Srebnick, was not allowed to represent Trump after talking to his legal partners.
Among the reasons lawyers don’t want to work for Trump:
Donald Trump faces two major enemies: The Justice Department—and the private legal community.
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