In new court filing against the DOJ, Donald Trump claims to be representing himself without a lawyer

| 6:58 pm EDT August 22, 2022
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Last week we pointed out that Donald Trump, whose previous lawyers have included Rudy Giuliani and Lin Wood, had decided to go out and find even worse lawyers to represent him. We further predicted that after his latest lawyers flame out, he’ll somehow find even worse lawyers. Sure enough, he’s already done so – and his new lawyer is apparently named “Donald Trump.”

To give you an idea of just how poorly Trump’s legal defense is going, earlier today the courts threw out his request that the names of the DOJ’s confidential witnesses against him be revealed. This request always had a 0% chance of being granted, and wouldn’t have helped him legally even if he did find out who’s flipped on him, yet Trump seemed to be hinging his entire defense on it.

Only after Trump’s request was denied today, did he finally try the correct legal strategy of asking the court to block the DOJ from continuing to sort the seized evidence until a special master can be appointed. The trouble for Trump is that because he waited two weeks to make this filing, the DOJ already has a head start in sorting the evidence – and the DOJ can argue to the judge that Trump must not be serious about wanting a special master if he waited this long to ask for one.

Worse for Trump, his filing today is mainly just him bragging about how popular he supposedly is, and contains no substantive legal argument for why a special master should be appointed. If you’re thinking that no lawyer would be willing to put their name on such nonsense, you may be correct. The filing was made by “Donald Trump Pro Se” – which means Trump is technically representing himself in this matter.

It’s a given that Trump is getting some kind of legal help from his lawyers. Today’s court filing is a semi-incoherent pile of crap, but it’s still beyond anything that Trump could have come up with on his own. But did Trump file this under his own name because he mistakenly thinks it makes him look like he’s taking charge, or is it because even his lawyers weren’t willing to put their names on it?

One clue could be the fact that Trump filed this up in Fort Pierce, instead of in Palm Beach. As various legal experts have pointed out, the federal judges in Fort Pierce were appointed by Trump. This suggests that Trump thinks the judges he appointed are going to bail him out – which is remarkably stupid of him, given that judges he’s appointed have repeatedly ruled against him on things.

But perhaps Trump thinks that if he lists himself as his own attorney, and files it with a judge he appointed, his semi-literate filing will somehow magically get him somewhere. Spoiler alert: it won’t. These are the actions of a desperate man who knows he has no way out of this, and is delusionally hoping to be scooped up by a magic carpet ride at the last moment.

Consider the order and timing of Donald Trump’s filings in the two weeks since the DOJ carried out a search warrant at his home. First he tried to get the court to expose the names of the people who cooperated against him, so he could try to get revenge on his way down. Only after that attempt at revenge failed, did Trump reluctantly decide to attempt a defense against the criminal charges he’s going to face. This is not a guy who wants to win. It’s a guy who wants someone to blame for the fact that he’s losing.