Yahoo Movies Amid Numerous Legal Fights, Team Trump Is Struggling to Find Legal Counsel: Report
James Devaney/GC Images Donald Trump
While Donald Trump faces a host of legal issues since leaving office, a new report alleges the former president, 76, finds himself confronted with a new challenge: He's having trouble hiring lawyers.
The Washington Post reports that, after last week's FBI search at Trump's Mar-a-Lago home, the former president's team is struggling to find respected legal counsel.
"Everyone is saying no," one source — identified only as "a prominent Republican lawyer" — told the Post.
The outlet adds that Trump's current attorneys have little to no experience in cases such as this one, which centers on the alleged mishandling of classified documents and suspected violation of the Espionage Act.
Florida defense attorney Jon Sale told the Post he turned down representing Trump recently, saying the former president "needs a first-rate, highly experienced federal criminal practitioner." Others have allegedly followed suit, the outlet claims, writing that some have found Trump to be difficult to represent — both because of his tendency to air private matters in public (against the advice of attorneys) and because of his reputation for failing to pay those who work for him.
The outlet reports that one of Trump's current attorneys, Christina Bobb, previously worked as a host on the far-right television network One America News Network (OANN) and for a San Diego law firm. Bobb signed an inventory list of the items taken from Mar-a-Lago last week, and has said she was on-site during the search.
A spokesperson for Trump disputed the Post report in a statement to the outlet, saying, "President Trump is represented by some of the strongest attorneys in the country, and any suggestion otherwise is only driven by envy."
RELATED: Trump Suspected of Violating Espionage Act, According to Mar-a-Lago Search Warrant
Last week's search at Trump's Mar-a-Lago home reportedly came after one of his lawyers assured the Department of Justice that no top-secret documents were in the former president's possession.
According to reports from CNN and The New York Times, the unidentified attorney swore in a signed letter to the DOJ in June that there were no more documents of interest at the Palm Beach, Fla., resort, despite the fact that the search returned 11 sets of classified materials.
The reports underscore questions of how many people have legal culpability in the ongoing investigation, which the FBI's search warrant revealed was in regards to the "removal or destruction of records, obstruction of an investigation, and violating the Espionage Act," according to Politico.
A source previously told the Post that the investigation was in regard to sensitive materials, including those pertaining to nuclear weapons.
The search came after FBI agents and a senior Justice Department national security supervisor reportedly visited Mar-a-Lago in early June in regards to boxes of classified documents sitting in the property's basement, officials followed up with Trump's lawyer, with instructions to install a stronger lock on the storage room door.
Trump reportedly assured officials that he had no more classified materials, but weeks later, "someone familiar with the stored papers told investigators there may be still more classified documents at the private club."
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The former president is mired in multiple ongoing legal issues, and recently hired new legal representation in the criminal investigation into his alleged election interference in Georgia.
In that case, his new attorney — prominent Atlanta-based lawyer Drew Findling — is known for representing stars including Cardi, Gucci Mane and Migos. Now, he'll represent Trump as a special grand jury is looking into possible illegal meddling in the 2020 presidential election.
Trump's company, the Trump Organization, is also the subject of more than one ongoing investigation by Manhattan prosecutors, who are probing whether the company undervalued or overvalued its property in order to obtain loans and more favorable tax breaks.
