ABANDON SHIP, LAWYER STYLE

In a brilliant but-as-yet-unpublished novel (literary agents and publishers, call me at once!) about a criminal prosecution of the vice president of the United States, there is a scene in which our hero, --a lawyer, of course—is meeting with another client who is being investigated by the federal government for possible election fraud. The client expects a subpoena and is describing to his counsel the documents he plans to submit as his response. 

The lawyer interrupts him:

"Henry, I know I have explained to you that our communications are confidential, but at this point I need to say more. Let me tell you a story. Years ago I had a client who was suspected of being involved in an illegal price-fixing conspiracy and feared he was about to receive a grand jury subpoena. Before I could interrupt him. the client blurted out that to avoid incriminating himself, he had burned a number of written communications between him and his competitors.

 

“I explained to the client that I was now disqualified from representing him because when the time came for him to respond to a subpoena, and he gave me the remaining documents to submit to the government, I could not do so without revealing that this was not a full and complete subpoena response. And of course, I could not reveal that to the government because the information was obtained via a client confidence. So I had no choice but to withdraw and to suggest he get new counsel. What he told his new lawyer was up to him."

The incident reminds me of what a law school professor told our class in Criminal Law 101: "The first rule of being a successful criminal lawyer is, ‘Never let your client’s problem become your problem.’"

It is apparent that not all lawyers representing former president Donald Trump may have learned that rule.

Earlier this year, the feds, chafing under what they perceived as a lack of cooperation from the Trump team, served a subpoena on Trump, seeking the return of classified documents illegally removed from the White House and transferred to his residence and office at Mar-a-Lago,  In connection with that matter, Trump was represented by lawyers named Christina Bobb and Evan Corcoran. Bobb, who no doubt relished being appointed by her distinguished client to the supreme position of his "Custodian of Documents" (a.k.a. ""Chief Javelin Catcher,”) responded to the subpoena on Trump's behalf by giving the government a small batch of documents, along with her letter assuring the government that, based on a “diligent search,” Trump had no more classified documents.

Her partner Corcoran dug the hole a little deeper by telling the government that all classified documents were in storage boxes, those boxes had been searched and the handful of classified records found there had been turned over to the feds.

Both statements were false and materially misleading. 

i) All classified documents had not been turned over to the government in response to the subpoena, ii) there had not been a “diligent search,” and iii) not all the classified documents remaining at Mara-a-Lago were in the storage boxes. Indeed the FBI agents executing the search warrant found highly classified documents in Trump’s desk.

As we now know, the government had not been taken in by the Bobb and Corcoran statements. They knew better. They not only sniffed it out by reason of prior uncooperative conduct by the Trump team, but as the government explained in its submission to the court, there were "several sources" that indicated to them that the Trump team's written and oral assurances about subpoena compliance were false.

What a coincidence. Just a week before the federal government filed for its warrant, a different team of Trump lawyers responded to a subpoena issued by a New York State Supreme Court judge in a matter initiated by the NY Attorney General, who was looking into possible tax and other frauds perpetrated by the Trump organization. 

The respondent at first fought the subpoena. It lost, and when the judge held the Trump organization in contempt, Trump folded. His team ultimately submitted affidavits (by a different set of lawyers) who swore they had personally “diligently searched each and every room of Trump's private residence [and office] at Mara-a-Largo, including all desks, drawers, nightstands, dressers, closets, etc." 

While this group of lawyers was not looking for federally classified material, their team, which consisted of at least five lawyers from their New Jersey law firm, plus Trump’s “executive assistants”, either certainly saw all of the classified material which the feds found in Trump's desk, or lied about the diligence of their search. Are they (or some of them) now also in the soup?  Are they part of the “several. sources” who ratted out Trump?  I dunno. 

One thing I do know is that there is steady growth of the list of Trump lawyers who have been disbarred, received target letters, have already been indicted, or are on the waiting list. In any event, ya know how bad things are when the lawyers need lawyers.

So there is now a strong likelihood that there exists a group of lawyers and "Trump executive assistants" who knew that by concealing government documents, (classified and non-classified,} Donald Trump i) obstructed justice by failure to comply with a federal subpoena, and ii) was guilty of violating the Espionage Act and the other criminal statutes listed in the search warrant. Some of these people may be indicted, some may make deals, and some are innocent but knowledgeable witnesses.

What are the names of these people? We probably won't learn their identities until the prosecution publishes its witness list in advance of Trump's trial.

A bientot.

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