Donald Trump’s personal attorney is offering White House staffers the kind of advice that’ll land them in prison
If you’re looking for a sign of just how dire the Russia scandal has grown for Donald Trump, he’s now hired an attorney to personally represent him in the matter. And if you’re looking for a sign of just how dire the scandal has gotten for Trump’s White House staffers, they’re now asking if they need attorneys of their own. But the real story here is that Trump’s own attorney is giving legal advice to his staffers – and it’s conveniently bad advice.
Trump’s personal attorney is telling White House staffers not to bother hiring attorneys of their own to represent them in the Russia scandal, according to the New York Times (link). But he’s not offering to represent them himself; instead he’s advising them not to lawyer up at all. That may be convenient for Donald Trump, whose staff may be less likely to flip on them if they don’t have their own attorneys to talk sense into them when the time comes. But it’s also an unprecedented move on the part of Trump and his attorney.
It’s not immediately clear whether or not Trump’s personal attorney is committing a crime, or a bar violation, by trying to help his client by offering faulty legal advice to Trump’s associates in a manner which is likely to end up harming them. But it does point to a whole lot of White House staffers ending up in prison if they follow the bad advice.
In any case it’s becoming more clear by the minute that Donald Trump couldn’t care less what harm comes to his own top White House staffers, so long as they don’t flip on him in the process. Just ask Trump’s personal attorney. Or better yet, don’t ask him. So which of Trump’s staffers will be smart enough to take this as a sign that they need to hire their own attorneys immediately?
