Being Donald Trump’s lawyer may be one of the hardest jobs in America.
First, you have to worry about whether you will ever be paid by a man often accused of skipping out on paying his bills — including to his own lawyers — just ask Rudy Giuliani.
And speaking of Giuliani there is the second worry, which is that working for Trump could put you in legal and professional jeopardy or at a minimum could make you a witness, like another Trump lawyer, Evan Corcoran.
And then there is a third worry: how to mount a winning defense for the twice-impeached, four-time-indicted former president who has a penchant for suddenly demolishing his lawyers’ strategies by making ill-advised confessions.
For example, in the classified documents case, Trump’s legal team sent a letter to Congress in April claiming it had seen absolutely no indication that Trump knowingly possessed any of the marked documents and that any classified documents that were sent to Mar-a-Lago were due to mistakes by White House staff and the General Services Administration. Yet just two little weeks later, Trump not only undercut that possible defense but he did it on live TV, claiming: “I have every right to under the Presidential Records Act. You have the Presidential Records Act. I was there and I took what I took and it gets declassified. Just so you understand I had every right to do it. I didn’t make a secret of it.”
And in the other federal case brought by the special counsel involving Trump’s attempts to try to overturn the 2020 election, Trump’s lead attorney John Lauro tried to set the stage to point the blame at Trump’s election lawyers, claiming that Trump was just following their advice.
Now whether or not that defense strategy would have actually worked in court we may never know because over the weekend Trump turned to his lawyers and said, “Hold my beer.”
When asked last week why he listened to his lawyers on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Trump responded, “You know who I listen to? Myself. I saw what happened. I watched that election and I thought the election was over at ten o’clock in the evening. … As to whether or not I believed it was rigged? Sure, it was my decision.”
What must also be causing his lawyers a lot of heartburn is the fact that Trump has claimed numerous times in the last few weeks that he is ready and willing to testify under oath during his trials. But it’s OK, Trump lawyers, nothing to worry about. Let’s not forget what Trump claimed back in 2015: “I know more about courts than any human being on earth.”
This is an excerpt from Monday’s episode of “The ReidOut.” It has been slightly edited for length and clarity.
Joy-Ann Reid
Joy-Ann Reid is host of “The ReidOut” at 7 p.m. ET on MSNBC. “The ReidOut” features one-on-one conversations with politicians and newsmakers while addressing provocative political issues both inside and outside of the beltway.