Happy Wednesday Trump Watchers! We've made it halfway through the week, which is already approaching a high level of Trumpiness: The nation gathered around the TV Sunday night to watch a porn star tell Anderson Cooper about her affair with the president, and she then sued his lawyer for defamation. The Trump administration also added a citizenship question to the 2020 Census, sparking immediate legal action from California. Oh, and through all this, the president can't seem to get a lawyer to represent him in the special counsel's Russia probe, and that's what I'd like to focus on today.

But first, I wanted to share with you, dear readers, that this week's Trump Watch will be my last, as I'll be leaving The National Law Journal for a new career opportunity at the end of the week. I'm not crying, you're crying! But for real, it's been an honor and a blast to talk Trump with you all over the past few months. Thank you for reading, and please keep in touch! You can always find me on Twitter: @CoganSchneier.

➤ Stay tuned for what's next for Trump Watch, and in the meantime, check out all the awesome briefings from Law.com here. OK, enough sappiness, let's get down to business!

Wanted: Lawyer for Leader of the Free World

 

 

It's a question that's top of mind for DC lawyers: Why won't anyone represent the commander in chief? Following the departure of John Dowd from his personal legal team handling the Russia probe, President Donald Trump has reportedly struggled to find someone to take on his case alongside his only remaining personal lawyer, Jay Sekulow.

So who did Trump get? Well, someone he already had. Reuters reported last night that a little-known lawyer, 69-year-old Andrew Ekonomou, who has been helping Trump's team for months, will now take on a more central role with Sekulow. Ekonomou works for a boutique in Atlanta, the Lambros Firm, and also handles cases for district attorneys in Georgia. You can read more about him from my colleagues here, but my favorite thing about Ekonomou is that he has a doctorate in medieval history. I wonder if it will come in handy for this job?

It's unclear if this ends Trump's legal search, which has been tumultuous. In the past week, press reports have revealed the names of several top-tier lawyers who turned the president down. Though the president appeared to hire Joseph diGenova and his wife Victoria Toensing last week, the deal fell through due to conflicts, Sekulow said Sunday.

Who else did Trump approach? Dan Webb and Tom Buchanan from Winston & Strawn, who also said they turned down the offer due to conflicts, and former Solicitor General Ted Olson, who not only declined but also went on MSNBC and said the White House is in “chaos.” But wait, there's more. Williams & Connolly's Emmet Flood, Hogan Lovells' Robert Bennett and Sullivan & Cromwell's Bob Giuffrahave all reportedly been considered.

In the words of the wise Hilary Duff, why not take a crazy chance, lawyers? One would think that representing POTUS would be a can't-turn-down-career-game-changer, but lawyers are reluctant to take on Trump for a variety of reasons that probably won't go away anytime soon.

→The Russia probe reaches far and wide. This reporter, for one, has trouble finding defense attorneys in the District who can still speak about it on the record, since so many are involved in some fashion. As the statements from Winston & Strawn and the episode with diGenova and Toensing show, finding a prominent, conflict-free lawyer is likely a difficult task at this point.

→Cozen O'Connor's Barry Boss told my colleague Ryan Lovelace that “the constant shuffle of attorneys” on Trump's team is off-putting, since one could dedicate so much time to Trump “only to find yourself on the sidelines a short time later because the president saw someone he liked better on Fox News.” Boss also said there's a “ stigma” associated with Trump that could scare off future clients.

→The New York Times reported Dowd quit because he felt Trump simply would not follow his advice. Trump reportedly insisted on doing an interview with Robert Mueller, the special counsel, under oath. Dowd thought that given the president's penchant for lying, the interview would only further his legal exposure. It's hard to imagine that other attorneys would be eager to deal with this problem.

Remember, the timing here is crucial. Trump is reportedly weighing whether to sit for an interview with Mueller's team, and I think we can all agree he'll need a good lawyer for that.

Plus, the New York Times reported today that Dowd, before he left, weighed offering pardons to both Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn, who have been caught in Mueller's crosshairs (Flynn pleaded guilty, Manafort did not). It's possible the pardon idea was considered as a way to keep the men from striking deals with prosecutors and revealing more information. Which begs the question, what more do Flynn and Manafort know?

Senior Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway's husband, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz lawyer George Conway, summed it up in a tweet: “This is flabbergasting.”

Gavel Tracker

No judicial nominees have been confirmed since last week. In the meantime, I highly recommend this piece, from the New York Times' Jeremy Peters, on Trump's judicial “litmus test.”

Hump Day Reads

-The attorneys general of Maryland and Washington, D.C., have standing to sue Trump over alleged violations of the Constitution's emoluments clauses. Details here.

-The Skadden associate who pleaded guilty in the Mueller probe told a judge Tuesday that he shouldn't have to go to jail, and that he lied to investigators because he was worried about his job. I have more for you here.

-California and other states are suing Trump over his decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. More here.

-You know who else is suing over that? Former Attorney General Eric Holder. In fact, Holder is everywhere these days, and my colleague Jenna Greene has some thoughts about that. Read up here.