At least ten members of Donald Trump administration have now lawyered up in Trump-Russia scandal
Donald Trump is still insisting that his Russia scandal is a “witch hunt” or “fake news” but his actions and those of his White House say otherwise. Not only has Trump hired multiple attorneys to personally represent himself, he’s one of a double digit number of members of his administration who have now lawyered up, with some hires now happening in real time.
In addition to Donald Trump’s hiring of at least three attorneys to represent himself in the Trump-Russia investigation, his vice president Mike Pence has also hired an attorney this week. Former Trump campaign advisers Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort lawyered up a long time ago. Trump’s own longtime personal attorney Michael Cohen also recently hired his own attorney. And that’s just the beginning.
MSNBC reports that former Trump advisers Roger Stone, Carter Page, and Michael Caputo have also hired attorneys, and that Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner has also done the same. And CNN reports that Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka, who is married to Kushner, has also lawyered up. That makes for a a total of at least ten people in the Donald Trump administration who have hired attorneys to represent them in the deepening and broadening scandal and investigation. More names are likely to be added imminently to the list.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller is investigating Donald Trump for obstruction of justice in relation to his firing of FBI Director James Comey, which Trump has since publicly admitted was an attempt at derailing the FBI’s Russia investigation. That means everyone involved in the decision making process to fire Comey is also a potential suspect in the obstruction investigation, depending on the role they played in the firing and their individual motivation for it. So it’s a reasonable expectation that many among Trump’s current senior White House staff will also lawyer up before much longer.
