Trump’s legal team deserves credit for their work, not condemnation – MinnPost
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While the lawyers representing former President Donald Trump have generally been derided by commentators, observers, savants and other know-it-alls, it might be time to take another look at their performance, particularly those engaged in the four federal and state felony-level criminal cases, irrespective of their less than stellar performances in the civil fraud and defamation lawsuits against him and his business organization.
Doing so yields a much more favorable evaluation, for they have achieved their principal objective of delaying the various criminal cases by their advocacy, appeals, and strategies, aided by some unforced errors and blunders by their adversaries and other lucky breaks.
As a result, the prospects are dimming that there will be any trials, let alone convictions or other outcomes, prior to the Republican nominating convention this summer, which their client seems to have locked up, or the election this fall, when he stands a decent (some would say indecent) chance of winning.
If that occurs, the two federal cases of election interference and improper handling of governmental materials, including classified data, will probably be extinguished by Presidential fiat about as fast as he can pardon the Jan. 6, 2021, rioters, whom he and some of his acolytes have referred to variously as “patriots,” “heroes” and, lately, “hostages.” Not harmless “tourists” visiting the Capitol any longer.
That leaves the two state court cases in New York and Georgia, both plagued with their own prosecutorial problems.
The initial case that was filed, the one concerning “hush money” payment to porn star Stormy Daniels prior to the 2016 election, has fallen off the radar screen. Since its initiation in New York state court last year, it has advanced nary at all; its major product seems to be jump-starting his MAGA base and enriching his coffers from supportive contributors. To compound its inertia, a vital prosecution witness, former Trump attorney and “fixer” Michael Cohen, a felon himself, has muddied the waters with his own misconduct, including his recent use of fabricated legal citations in a different proceeding.
The election interference case in the nation’s capital, being handled by special counsel Jack Smith, is hamstrung by appeals. While the outlook for Team Trump on the pending issue of his “absolute immunity” from any criminal prosecution now lodged in the D.C. federal appellate court looks bleak, it has had the effect of derailing the proceeding and more pit stops are yet ahead. (Editor’s note: The appeals court on Tuesday ruled against granting Trump immunity).
The Mara Lago purloined documents case, which once seemed like a slam-dunk, has been slow-walked by the Trump-appointed judge Aileen Cannon and seems to be dry docked.
Then, there’s the sprawling Georgia state court case brought by the Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, whose immense prosecution of 19 alleged racketeering co-conspirators may have bitten off more than it can chew. While it has achieved a few guilty pleas by small fish, it will have a whale of a time getting to the former President, who also has raised the immunity defense there, too.
The case is now marred by the bad optics of the D.A. enmeshed in an unbecoming romantic imbroglio concerning her hiring and designation of an apparent romantic partner as lead attorney in the case, a predicament that, while not necessarily illegal or unethical, is likely to cripple the prosecution for a long time as Team Trump and other various defendants, including those who have pled guilty, attack the arrangement and seek to use the stench emanating from that inconvenient arrangement to wound, if not scuttle, the prosecution.
Although not a criminal case, the effort to keep the former President off of the March 5 primary ballot in Minnesota under the “insurrection” clause of section 3 of the post-Civil War 14th Amendment failed here due, in part, to successful lawyering by his attorneys and affiliated ones representing the state Republican Party. The state Supreme Court last fall punted, deeming the case premature until the fall election. But the issue is likely to be resolved soon by the U.S. Supreme Court in connection with litigation challenging decisions barring him from the ballot in two other states, Colorado and Maine.
The various squadrons of lawyers working for the former President, all at rather hefty price tags, warrant considerable credit for managing to keep these cases at bay without blatantly crossing any legal or ethical boundaries.
While they have yet to achieve any victories, the Trump attorneys have managed to succeed in accomplishing another objective: not losing.
That deserves some degree of grudging admiration, not condemnation.
Marshall H. Tanick is a constitutional and employment law attorney with the Twin Cities law firm of Meyer Njus Tanick.
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