Donald Trump’s impeachment legal team is now reduced to an idiot and a guy who will have to testify against him
Donald Trump has spent the past few weeks frantically trying to add a new attorney to his Trump-Russia legal team. Not only has he failed to find anyone willing to take the job, he’s motivated his least-incompetent existing lawyer, John Dowd, to resign. So now, as Trump heads into the most crucial moments of Robert Mueller’s investigation, his legal team now consists of something straight out of a bad sitcom.
At this point Trump’s remaining legal team is down to two people: Ty Cobb and Jay Sekulow. But really, it’s down to just one name. Only Trump knows for sure why he decided to put Cobb on the White House payroll instead of his own personal payroll, but we’re guessing it’s because Trump is just that much of a cheapskate. Regardless of the reason, it means that Trump and Cobb have absolutely no attorney-client privilege.
Ty Cobb certainly knows this, and he’s presumably told Trump not to confess anything illegal to him. But Trump has zero self control, so it’s a given that Trump has already told Cobb all kind of things he shouldn’t have. That means Mueller will eventually be able to call Cobb as a witness against Trump, and Cobb will have to testify about everything Trump has ever told him. That may sound odd, but former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti has confirmed as much in his legal analysis. So what about Trump’s other remaining lawyer?
For whatever reason, Donald Trump has been smart enough to put his other Trump-Russia attorney, Jay Sekulow, on his personal payroll, so they have attorney-client privilege. The trouble: Sekulow appears to be an idiot. He famously appeared on Trump-friendly Fox News and turned in such an embarrassing performance that host Chris Wallace was left muttering “Oh boy this is weird.” Ty Cobb isn’t necessarily any better at this, as he once blabbed about Trump’s secrets at a restaurant within earshot of a reporter. And even though John Dowd was probably Trump’s best attorney before he quit, he’s nutty enough that he’s advocated for seceding from the union.
