Aug.22

electoral-vote.com

Dem 51

   

GOP 49

All the President's Lawyers

OK, he's not president now, but former senators and governors are often addressed by their previous title, and the headline has a nice ring to it. Donald Trump has been indicted on multiple criminal charges in four jurisdictions and E. Jean Carroll and New York Attorney General Letitia James have filed civil cases against him as well. Consequently, Donald Trump needs lawyers, and a lot of them. Given his habit of stiffing his lawyers (see: Giuliani, Rudolph), finding top-rated lawyers willing to take him on as a client is proving difficult. Nevertheless, he has put together a collection of not-so-top lawyers (with one or two exceptions) to handle his many cases. In some cases, he had to pay large retainers in advance to get them to agree to sign up. Who are all these folks? The New York Times has an article discussing some of Trump's key lawyers, their backgrounds, and their fees, which are not unsubstantial. That last bit is not surprising since it is hard to imagine any lawyer, even someone who voted for Trump, willing to put up with him unless they are very well compensated. Here are Trump's lawyers, by case.

• Joe Tacopina (57): Any lawyer who is as aggressive about defending his clients to the media as in the courtroom is obviously going to be one of Trump's favorites. However, courtroom performance is also important. Tacopina defended Trump in the E. Jean Carroll defamation lawsuit—and lost. But he was very aggressive in questioning Carroll, which may have made up for the loss in Trump's mind. His firm was paid $1.7 million for the first half of 2023.
  
  
• Susan Necheles (64): She was counsel to the late Genovese crime family underboss known as "Benny Eggs" (Venero Mangano). She also represented one of then-Mayor Bill de Blasio's fundraisers in a bribery case. She has been involved in defending Trump since 2021. He paid her firm $465,000 for the first half of 2023.
  
  

• Stephen Weiss (35): He was an associate at the firm of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft for 6 years before joining the firm of Todd Blanche in June of this year. He represented Trump at the pretrial hearing last month.
  
  
• Lindsey Halligan (34): Another young lawyer here. Maybe Trump thinks Judge Aileen Cannon is in the bag for him, so he doesn't need high-powered senior lawyers. Or maybe he can't find any. Halligan was part of the team that argued before Cannon to have a special master appointed to go through the documents Trump stole. Trump's PAC paid $212,000 here from June 2022 to June 2023.
  
  

• John Lauro (65): He joined Trump's legal team in early August, although he advised Trump on legal matters in 2022. He was with Trump during his arraignment earlier this month. He was once a federal prosecutor in Brooklyn. Considering that he is up against the best of the best here, namely Special Counsel Jack Smith, unless this team is bolstered, Lauro is going to have to work his tail off. He was paid $288,000 for legal advice in 2022 and the first half of 2023.
  
  

• Drew Findling (63): He is well known in Atlanta as the #BillionDollarLawyer for representing numerous rap stars, including Cardi B, Gucci Mane, and Migos. He has decades of trial experience and is well regarded for his defense work, especially in murder cases and political corruption cases. Trump's PAC paid him $816,000 from July 2022 to May 2023. Findling is one of the few really good lawyers Trump has.
  
  
• Marissa Goldberg (40): She is a partner at Findling's law firm. So far her effort has been asking the judge to disqualify Fani Willis and to throw out the whole case.
  
  
• Jennifer Little (44): She is a local lawyer who began her career in nearby DeKalb County before joining Frieder Bonder White. Later, she started her own law firm. She was compelled to testify in the Mar-a-Lago documents case. She was paid $100,000 by Trump's PAC in April 2022. Findling, Goldberg, and Little were all present at the bond deal yesterday.
  
  

Now we come to the interesting lawyers. They are working on multiple cases and are close to Trump. The others are just hired hands doing a job for the money.

• Todd Blanche (49): He is a former federal prosecutor and has a reputation as an aggressive lawyer. He represented Paul Manafort, Trump's 2016 campaign manager (for a while), in a case involving mortgage fraud and other felonies. He also represented Igor Fruman, an associate of Rudy Giuliani, who pleaded guilty to soliciting foreign campaign contributions, which are not permitted. Trump hired him in April and he has worked on the New York, Florida, and D.C. cases. His firm was paid $353,000 so far.
  
  
• Boris Epshteyn (41): He is more of an adviser to Trump than a lawyer, even though he does hold a law degree (from Georgetown). He worked as a corporate lawyer for less than 2 years, and that is about it. Other lawyers have refused to work under him, but Trump seems to like him. He was the one who suggested hiring Todd Blanche. Trump's PAC paid him $195,000 in 2022 and at least $30,000 for his work on the 2024 campaign.
  
  
• Christopher Kise (59): Finally we have a real heavyweight. He is a former Florida solicitor general who has won four cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Trump had to pay him $3 million upfront to get him to sign on. He also paid Kise's firm another $2.8 million. In addition, Trump paid $2.9 million to Continental, a law firm at which Kise is of counsel. That means he is an adviser to the firm but not a partner or associate. As a Florida lawyer, he will probably be largely involved in the Mar-a-Lago documents case, although he is also involved in the civil lawsuit brought by NY AG Letitia James.
  
  

It is kind of a mixed bag. Kise is clearly a quality lawyer and Findling has had success in Atlanta cases. Most of the others are not top drawer, but you go to court with the lawyers you have, not the lawyers you would like to have. Each of the cases is very different from all the others and all but the New York one are quite complicated, so the lawyers are going to have to earn their keep. For their sake, let us hope they were all paid in advance. (V)