Trump hired one of the lawyers defending him in the Mar-a-Lago raid case after seeing him on TV, report says
- The lawyers representing Trump against the DOJ was quickly assembled and has questionable experience.
- According to the NYT, Trump picked former federal prosecutor Jim Trusty after seeing him on TV.
One of the lawyers fighting the Department of Justice on Donald Trump's behalf was hired after the former president saw him on TV, according to a report.
The New York Times reported the detail on Sunday about the hiring of Jim Trusty, a former federal prosecutor. It cited unnamed people close to Trump for the information.
Trusty is one of several Trump lawyers countering attempts by the federal government to investigate his handling of government records after he left office, including the fallout of the FBI raid at Mar-a-Lago which found a cache of highly-classified material.
Legal experts have, in the main, not been impressed with their efforts. As Insider reported earlier in August, one expert termed the team "either completely incompetent or out of their depth."
Renato Mariotti, a former longtime federal prosecutor, told Insider: "That's part of the reason why the former president has trouble finding lawyers: Because he demands that they file documents and take positions that have no legal support whatsoever."
Trump's legal team also includes Evan Corcoran, also a former prosecutor; Christina Bobb, a former host on One America New Network; Lindsey Halligan, a Florida insurance lawyer; and Alina Habba, the former general counsel for a parking-garage firm.
Corcoran is also said to have come into Trump's team in an unusual way. According to a recent Washington Post report, Trump hired him in a conference call without ever having met him.
According to a source close to Trump, Corcoran was not vetted at all.
Trump has aggressively responded to suggestions that he was struggling to hire good lawyers.
In a Truth Social post responding to an earlier Washington Post report alleging he was having trouble finding talented lawyers, he wrote: "I already have excellent and experienced lawyers — am very happy with them."