[View here as a Twitter thread]
1/ If you missed my thread on Trump’s “legal” defense, it’s here: twitter.com/Teri_Kanefield… In March, Bob Bauer, writing for Lawfare, observed that Trump doesn’t want legal advice from his lawyers. Trump’s view is that the job of his lawyers is to find a way around the law. . .
2/ He wants them to get around the law while providing him with a veil of deniability. lawfareblog.com/president-and-… Thus Michael Cohen was a “fixer” who paid secretly paid hush money to porn stars. Trump expects his lawyers to disregard the law when he orders them to do so.
3/ Thus he was enraged when Sessions recused himself although this law required him to do so. law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/28/45… Bauer next asked: Will Trump’s lawyers behave corruptly and enable him? Or will they behave ethically and try to stop him?
4/ Bauer concluded sadly that Trump’s lawyers seemed to have “lost their ethical bearings.” lawfareblog.com/president-and-… Giuliani knows that MR 1.2(c) forbids a lawyer to counsel or assist a client in conduct the lawyer knows to be criminal or fraudulent.
5/ Giuliani — and all Trump’s lawyers —know about Rule 4.1, which forbids a lawyer from making false statement of fact. americanbar.org/groups/profess… Giuliani knows his lies obstruct the Mueller probe, but he’s not worried. If Trump succeeds, all that will matter is pleasing Trump.
6/ When Giuliani said facts “are in the eye of the beholder” he is openly explaining Trump’s legal defense. esquire.com/news-politics/… We have to stop assuming Trump’s lawyers are silly buffoons who are goofing. They know exactly what they’re doing.
7/When McGahn wrote unenforceable NDAs, he was following orders from his boss, who asked him to distort the law to bully people. twitter.com/Teri_Kanefield… It’s tempting to compare Trump’s lawyers to mob lawyers.
8/ Reagan commissioned a study & found “renegade” lawyers who launder money, orchestrate perjured testimony, offer bribes, use law offices to plan crimes, etc. nytimes.com/1985/03/12/us/… Mob lawyers “represent a disturbing trend within the profession . . .
9/ . . . of unquestioning advancement of a client’s wishes at all costs.” Comey said his discussions with Trump gave him “flashbacks” to his career prosecuting the mob.
10/ From Comey: “The lying about all things, large and small, in service to some code of loyalty that put the organization above morality and above the truth.”
11/ When Trump’s lawyers weaken rule of law, they’re removing what Profs. Levitsky & Ziblatt call a guardrail of democracy. Without guardrails, democracy careens into authoritarianism.
12/ One of Timothy Snyder’s warnings is that democracy is in danger when lawyers abandon their professional responsibilities. He gives the examples of lawyers who supported Hitler. Important point: Intelligent and capable lawyers can also be fascists.
13/ Emmet Flood’s former colleagues are shocked that a smart lawyer seems to be on board with Trump. But Flood stayed silent when Sarah Sanders said this: twitter.com/jdawsey1/statu… & he knew what he was supporting when he he donated $2,700 Trump’s campaign. law.com/nationallawjou…
14/ I still see people laugh at Giuliani and assume he’s just goofing up. I think we would do well to pay close attention to his strategy. When a character in Shakepeare’s Henry VI wanted to overthrow the king, he said, “First thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.”
15/ I think they just meant the ethical lawyers.
