But not pro bono. He’ll charge himself a thousand dollars an hour and then ask his supporters to send money to pay the bill.
I think this article sets out quite clearly why The Orange One can’t get good lawyers:
Bleah.
Paywall.
Well, okay, you don’t really have to pay, but your email will be thrown to the wolves.
~VOW
Here’s a gift link.
Sorry I subscribe and forget NYT is paywalled.
Sidebar:
Does Trump tend to stiff his attorneys more than others, or about the same. I’ve heard he stiffs contractors and service people and anyone he can, but is there some group he holds particular enmity towards?
I’m not sure it’s a matter of enmity, or at least most of the time. I think he just sees not paying people as “smart”.
Especially if they’re not loyal to him. I mean, if they’re not even prepared to lie to the court, what’s he paying them for?
Well in general sure, I’m just wondering if there’s a group where it’s personal.
The article opens with a joke: MAGA stands for “Making attorneys get attorneys”. The main thrust is not that he stiffs them (although he does when they give him advice he doesn’t want to hear) but that they often end up in legal trouble themselves.
Which raises an interesting question. A lawyer signs a statement saying that all the classified material has been returned. It hasn’t. So they try the lawyer and his defense is that Trump told him it was the case and he is acquitted on reasonable doubt. Then Trump is tried and he claims the lawyer lied for him. Again reasonable doubt. So no one is convicted.
That’s an occasional movie/book plot. Someone gets killed, two suspects, separate trials, they both claim the other one did it - reasonable doubt and both are acquitted.
So, what would be so hard about a lawyer saying “I’ll be your defense attorney IF I have the right to bail out any time you ask me to do something unethical AND you pay me a huge flat fee upfront that I get to keep even if I bail out?”
One thing that might made that hard is the judge may not allow the lawyer to remove him/herself from the case.
The comic Non Sequitur has one of the main characters (well, his brother) representing Trump, starting yesterday:
The story arc continues today.
OK, then maybe the only thing the lawyer can do is - again, demand a huge flat fee upfront and - assiduously document every instance of Trump asking him to do something unethical, and take records of him refusing Trump each time - to cover his legal ass.
And that flat fee could be huge enough that the lawyer would be able to retire immediately once the case was over.
It would also have to be big enough to cover the legal fees for the lawyer that the lawyer would have to hire once the subpoenas start coming from Congress, and DOJ, and responding to the bar investigation into the lawyer’s actions.
Yeah, that is the sort of stuff that if you go along with it, gets you disbarred.
Lawyers’ first duty is to the legal system and process itself not to their clients, unless I’m mistaken. Kind of like the primum non nocere of the legal world. (yes, I know that’s not actually in the Hippocratic Oath)
I’m reading this, and two thoughts came to mind -
- “making vague promises of riches later”. Boy, that sounds a lot like the Prosperity Gospels. Did Trump get the idea from them or did they get it from him?
- “They didn’t do what I wanted them to do” as a reason for non-payment. Recently read “Devil in the White City” - a book that combines the Chicago Worlds Fair with H. H. Holmes’ Murder House. That was one of the things Holmes did - he’d hire carpenters, masons, etc., then find some flimsy excuse to not pay them. Maybe the FBI should have checked Mar-a-Largo for a hidden room with a furnace…
As many people, including myself, have noted, Donald Trump has the instincts to be a criminal but he lacks the intellect or skills to be a successful criminal.
So the NY Times article describes the usual pattern for Trump and his lawyers. He wants something. Obtaining what he wants is illegal. At this point, a smart criminal would ask his lawyers “Is there a clever way we can get around this law?”
Trump’s not clever. When his lawyers advise him that his proposed action is illegal, he just repeats that he wants to do it. He tells his lawyers he’s done a lot of things in the past that other lawyers said were illegal so what’s the big deal?
So you’re a lawyer. Your client has just told you he’s done a bunch of illegal things in the past and plans on doing more illegal things in the future. What do you do?
-
Walk away. Tell your client you won’t commit any crimes and you’re quitting. Your client publicly denounces you for being a terrible lawyer who didn’t do your job and is disloyal and is secretly working for his enemies and is a traitor to America and everything you say is a big fat lie. And your client doesn’t pay you any of the money he owes you. You get called as a witness by various investigatory panels to testify about the illegal activities your client told you he had committed or was planning on committing.
-
Do what your client wants. You are assisting your client in the commission of illegal activities. You are now a co-conspirator in those illegal activities. Your client goes around telling people about the illegal activities that he committed. You get called as a witness by various investigatory panels to testify about the illegal activities your client told you he had committed or was planning on committing. You tell the truth. You get charged as a co-conspirator when your involvement is revealed. Your client publicly denounces you for being a terrible lawyer who didn’t do your job and is disloyal and is secretly working for his enemies and is a traitor to America and everything you say is a big fat lie. And your client doesn’t pay you any of the money he owes you.
-
Do what your client wants (version 2). You are assisting your client in the commission of illegal activities. You are now a co-conspirator in those illegal activities. Your client goes around telling people about the illegal activities that he committed. You get called as a witness by various investigatory panels to testify about the illegal activities your client told you he had committed or was planning on committing. You try to protect your client and yourself and don’t tell the truth. You get charged as a co-conspirator when your involvement is revealed. Your client says you are being used as a means to attack him. Your client doesn’t pay you any of the money he owes you.
This is the pattern of Trump’s life. Trump commits crimes. Trump bungles his crimes and they are revealed. Trump is rich and avoids the consequences. Trump goes on to commit more crimes. The people around Trump face the consequences for Trump’s crimes. The lesson here is you shouldn’t be a person who is around Trump.
And that’s why Trump is having trouble finding lawyers.