Former President Donald Trump and his close aides have spent the eight days since the FBI raided his Florida home rushing to assemble a team of respected defense lawyers. But the answer they keep hearing is “no.” The scramble to find special legal counsel 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. “Everybody says no,” said one prominent Republican lawyer, who as some others spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential conversations. Trump is no stranger to legal proceedings, and his effort to hire lawyers in the face of an ominous federal investigation is reminiscent of his predicament in the summer of 2017, when he was under special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s Russia probe. Once again, Trump is struggling to find a veteran criminal defense attorney with a strong track record of dealing with the Justice Department in a sprawling, multifaceted investigation. A list of items seized during the FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-A-Lago home was unsealed on August 12. (Video: Blair Guild/The Washington Post) Longtime Trump confidants and advisers have been extremely concerned about Trump’s current stable of lawyers, noting that most of them have little or no experience in cases of this type, according to two people familiar with the internal discussions. Taylor Budowitz, a Trump spokesman, defended the quality of the former president’s legal team in a statement Tuesday night, pointing to former federal prosecutors Evan Corcoran and James Trusty. “The President’s lead counsel in connection with the raid on his home, Jim Trusty and Evan Corcoran, have decades of prosecutorial experience and have tried some of the most complex cases in American history,” Budowitz said. “President Trump is represented by some of the most powerful lawyers in the country, and any suggestion otherwise is made out of envy.” Jon Sale, a prominent Florida defense attorney who worked on the Watergate prosecution team and said he declined to represent Trump last week because he did not have enough time to devote to the case, said that “the Trump team needs a top-notch, very experienced federal criminal practitioner.’ “You have to evaluate if you want to take it,” Sale said. “It’s not like a DUI. It represents the former president of the United States – and perhaps the next – in one of the most high-profile cases of all time.” 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 lawyers. But Trump’s quest has been hampered by his divisiveness, as well as his reputation for toughening salespeople and ignoring advice. “In the old days, he would tell the companies that represented him that it was a benefit because they could advertise. It’s not the same today,” said Michael Cohen, a former Trump lawyer who was convicted of tax evasion, perjury, campaign finance violations and lying to Congress in 2018. “He’s also a very difficult client in that he always pushes the envelope, rarely listens to sound legal advice and wants you to do things that are not appropriate, ethical or legal.” A lawyer told a story from the early years of Trump’s presidency to his legal team, urging him not to tweet about the Mueller investigation, only to find that he had tweeted about it before they reached the end of the West Wing. Several people said Trump was nearly impossible to represent and that it would be unclear if they would ever be paid. People familiar with the search for legal help said the effort includes Susie Wiles, a close adviser to Trump, and attorney Christina Bobb, who was present at Mar-a-Lago during the investigation and signed off on the list of documents were received. Former campaign adviser Boris Epshteyn is taking on a prominent role, and former White House aide Kash Patel is advising informally. Patel is raising money for a “law violation” fund by selling merchandise such as T-shirts and beanies with the “K$H” logo. Trump’s secrets: How a records controversy led the FBI to investigate Mar-a-Lago “You get these guys who live to be around him and mistakes are made,” said a lawyer who is not part of the team. “These guys just want to make him happy.” Bob was previously an anchor on the far-right, pro-Trump television network One America News. At OAN, Bob covered the Arizona Republican Party’s 2020 ballot review — which ultimately confirmed Joe Biden’s victory in the state — while also raising money for the effort and conferring with Trump advisers, the Washington Post reported. Bobb’s prior federal legal experience consists primarily of a handful of trademark infringement cases on behalf of CrossFit during a stint at a San Diego law firm. He did not respond to requests for comment. Trump’s other attorney currently based in Florida is Lindsay Halligan, whose practice, according to a professional biography, focuses on residential and commercial insurance claims. She was admitted to the Florida bar in 2014. A search of federal court records found no records under her name. He did not respond to requests for comment. Trump is also being represented in the records dispute by Alina Haba, who heads a three-lawyer firm with an office near Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, N.J. Her professional experience includes serving as general counsel for a parking garage company. Last year, Habba began representing Trump in several cases, including defending him against a defamation claim by author E. Jean Carroll, who accused him of decades of sexual assault. suing the New York Times and Trump’s niece, Mary L. Trump; and suing his 2016 opponent Hillary Clinton, the Democratic National Committee and other perceived enemies, alleging a conspiracy to damage Donald Trump through the Trump scandal Russia. Hamba did not respond to requests for comment. Others on the team have relatively more experience with federal criminal investigations. Trusty previously served in the Department of Justice’s criminal division and was head of the organized crime and gang division. He recently represented clients accused of financial fraud, defrauding the US Department of Agriculture and trafficking in counterfeit military uniforms. He referred questions to Trump’s spokesman. Corcoran is a former federal prosecutor who is seen by Trump aides as a serious and experienced lawyer. His recent clients include a former Capitol police officer accused of obstructing a Jan. 6 investigation by telling a riot suspect to remove Facebook posts and a Pennsylvania man who pleaded guilty to rioting and was sentenced to 60 days imprisonment. Corcoran also represented former Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon in his contempt trial for defying a House subpoena in the Jan. 6 probe. Bannon was convicted in July. Some of Trump’s interactions with the Justice Department have also been handled by John Rowley, another former federal prosecutor now at his own firm, Politico reported. Rowley did not respond to requests for comment. In another potential complication, each lawyer who made assurances to the FBI on Trump’s behalf could have his own legal brief or testify in the case. A letter signed by a lawyer for Trump’s team was sent to the Justice Department in June suggesting that all classified material had been turned over, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. The existence of the letter was first reported by The New York Times. “Either the lawyer acted in good faith in what turned out to be false statements of fact by Mr. Trump or someone else communicating on his behalf, in which case Mr. Trump or his attorney would be at criminal risk for making false statements or obstruction of justice , or the lawyer knowingly made false assurances to the government,” said David Laufman, the former head of the Justice Department’s counterintelligence division, which is now investigating classified records kept at Trump’s home. “And it’s hard to believe that a lawyer would knowingly lie to the government about the continued presence of classified documents.” Attorney General Merrick Garland spoke on August 11 about a search warrant executed at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-A-Lago residence. (Video: The Washington Post) The universe of experienced federal professionals is not really that extensive, and the case would likely monopolize their time to the exclusion of all other clients. Potential candidates and their companies may be further deterred by the controversy that defending Trump would entail. “Good lawyers should have worked on this case for months,” said Alan Dershowitz, the former Harvard Law School professor who has advised Trump in the past and said he was not asked to get involved now. “It takes a big and good and very experienced defense team with experience trying cases.” Dershowitz said he recommended his Harvard colleague Ronald S. Sullivan Jr., the faculty director of the Harvard Institute of Criminal Justice and the Harvard Trial Support Laboratory. Sullivan said he has not heard from Trump’s team. Agents at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago seized 11 sets of classified documents, court filing says “They clearly need someone with federal trial experience and someone familiar with high-profile cases who can stay on task and not get distracted by the media glare,” Sullivan said. “The case itself presents a number of issues that would be of interest to many good lawyers. Some lawyers may reasonably feel that the public will confuse Mr. Trump’s policy goals and positions with those of the lawyer. In this way, many lawyers may not be willing to expose themselves to…
