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Donald Trump’s reputation as a historically bad, financially delinquent client who has collected a spectacular number of legal crises is catching up to him. In the week following the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago, which led to the revelation that the Justice Department is investigating Trump for possible violations of the Espionage Act and other laws, the former president and his aides are reportedly scrambling to find a team of respected defense lawyers. 

“Everyone is saying no,” an anonymous source told the Washington Post. Alan Dershowitz, the former Harvard Law School professor who has advised Trump in the past, didn’t seem too encouraging either, telling the Post that “good lawyers should have been working on this case for months.”

But clearly, such “good lawyers” have eluded Trump as he sinks further into a legal hot mess. Perhaps lawyers aren’t touching the case with a 10-foot pole in order to avoid the fate of Trump’s former personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, whose own role in the Big Lie now has him embroiled in the criminal investigation into election interference in Georgia. Let’s also recall that Giuliani’s deeply problematic television interviews were reportedly central to his firing from his own law firm. He eventually got his license suspended by the New York Bar last year. 

So far, here’s the legal team Trump has managed to convince to defend him in his cascading legal troubles, according to the Post: 

Lindsey Halligan, a Florida insurance lawyer with, according to an investigation by the Washington Post, no prior experience on federal cases.

Alina Habba, a partner of a three-attorney firm and former general counsel for a parking garage company.

Christina Bobb, a former TV host of a pro-Trump news network who’s prior federal experience includes trademark infringement cases

Not exactly a crack team. But these days, with Trump increasingly threatened by mounting legal woes, who would want to join the ranks of Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and other MAGA-allied lawyers?

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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