trump's Only Defense

Randy lay there like a slug. It was his only defense!
- from A Christmas Story

Twitter was atwitter today when word got out that donald trump - facing criminal indictment in a South Florida courtroom this Tuesday - was struggling to find a local lawyer as required by law to represent him in that courtroom.

NBC News: Trump's arraignment can't go forward unless he finds local counsel — and it's unclear whether he has.

At least one prominent Miami-based defense attorney has turned down Trump.

If Trump doesn't find local counsel, the surrender and first appearance will still happen,…

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 12, 2023

He's checking the billboards on way from airport for a good accident lawyer.

— Walter Williams (@WaltTheStalt) June 12, 2023

Jokes about forcing trump to take on a Public Defender - like an alleged billionaire was unable to afford one - quickly filled up the boards. Which did bring up a valid question: ARE there public defenders who can appear in a Florida court who are versed in Espionage Act and Obstruction cases?

The reality of trump's situation is more complex than this. he DOES have lawyers representing him in this federal matter, but none of them are currently licensed to practice in front of this Florida district court. Hence the need to find someone local, and someone versed in these legal matters. The story is that nobody sane - even among a legal market bound to have a number of conservative Cuban-American lawyers with some experience in these matters (due to a lot of Cuban spying, global intrigue, what have you) - wants to touch a client like trump who won't even consider the seriousness of these charges and how he's misrepresenting the mountain of evidence against him. Via Gabriella Ferrigine at Salon:

Trump has been turned down by multiple attorneys, according to The Messenger, and NBC News' Ken Dilanian reported that if the former president cannot find someone by Tuesday, "the arraignment may have to be postponed."

"The surrender and first appearance will happen regardless," he tweeted. 

The Guardian's Hugo Lowell reported that Trump will spend Monday meeting with potential attorneys but is currently expected to be represented by his New York lawyer Todd Blanche and Florida attorney Chris Kise, who was reportedly sidelined last year after urging Trump to calm tensions with Justice Department investigators.

Trump is also represented by Linsdsey Halligan, an inexperienced Florida attorney he hired last year during another stretch when he struggled to find prominent attorneys to represent him.

"No offense to Ms. Halligan but this is an Espionage Act prosecution of a former president," tweeted national security attorney Bradley Moss. "The idea an insurance lawyer will have to take point on this right now is simply unacceptable..."

Trump's struggles come after two of his attorneys in the Mar-a-Lago case, Jim Trusty and John Rowley, resigned from his defense team just hours after the indictment...

The Messenger reported that Trump's legal team has interviewed six Southern Florida law firms thus far but many have passed on the opportunity to work for the ex-president, largely owing to his inflammatory and polarizing nature. 

"The problem is none of us want to work for the guy. He's a nightmare client," a leading federal criminal defense lawyer in the Southern District of Florida told the outlet, also commenting on the ongoing rumors of infighting and deep-seated distrust amongst Trump's legal team...

The "nightmare" client may refer to the facts that A) trump keeps blabbing about the crimes he did as though he was already exonerated, behavior which would drive any defense lawyer crazy; and B) trump can never consider a plea deal - something most of these lawyers would argue in favor if only to keep their client out of jail on a misdemeanor - because his ego won't accept admitting he was guilty in any way. 

Unspoken in the article are reports that trump's been failing to pay his lawyers on time.

Also unspoken in that article is the possibility that this situation is exactly what trump wants.

Ferrigine does note that if trump is unable to find adequate representation in this courtroom, it delays the arraignment process. This falls into a recognizable legal pattern for trump: Delay Delay Delay, something he's done over and over in Civil court proceedings to weasel his way out of paying people what he owed them.

It is a tactic that works in Civil matters: However, it might not work for Criminal cases like this.

Jack Smith is already on record saying he wants a speedy trial, with a legal system in place that can fast-track this to a 70-day start date (placing this in late August 2023!). If Smith gets his way, trump will be seeing the courtroom well before any primary debates even start, and could well be convicted before 2024 even rolls onto the calendar.

trump's inability to find legal counsel is one of the loopholes in the Speedy Trial Act that he could abuse to try and stretch this matter out for a year, and even appeal decisions to prolong the fight over the trial's start as much as possible. trump is likely going to do this because, quite honestly, trump has no other legal defense at all.

The 37-count indictment is replete with evidence of trump caught on tape bragging about the classified documents in his possession. Prosecutors have more evidence of trump intentionally shifting and hiding the boxes whenever the FBI and Justice Department came knocking with subpoenas between 2021 and 2022, knowingly obstructing them. And given the Espionage charges, it's likely the government has proof he's exposed national top secrets to people - and worse, selling or trading those secrets - he shouldn't have. trump's own guard dog former AG Bill Barr said on Fox Not-News this weekend: "If even half of this is true, he's toast."

trump's attempts to twist around the legal definitions of the Presidential Records Act and Espionage Acts will likely fall on deaf ears, even with a deferential judge overseeing the trial. Without any kind of legal standing to offer a jury, trump's only other option is to attack the DOJ and the Special Counsel directly. he's already screaming on social media - WITCH HUNT! - to undermine the legality of the government itself bringing the charges against him. But even that may alienate the courtroom he has to win over: Witness the other recent trials where trump's organization was found guilty, and trump found liable for sexual assault against Carroll. trump used similar attack methods there and the jurors - even with people who voted for him - still ruled against him.

Any jury trial on these charges are a risk for trump. So he's going to use the only defense he knows: Delay everything until it favors himself, preferably to where he's stolen the 2024 elections and lied/bullied/tricked his way back into a White House where he can get a new Attorney General to shut everything down.

The only sane response to any delay tactic is to deny trump the satisfaction. he's supposed to have the money to afford a good lawyer. There ought to be ways for the courts to appoint an attorney - something called a "Panel Attorney" if I'm reading this properly - to handle trump's matters in that courtroom. If that's not applicable, I wonder if Smith's Special Counsel could argue to change venue to a location - like say Washington DC, where lawyers versed on Espionage cases are falling out of the trees - that can resolve trump's need to find an attorney or rely on the ones he already has.

No more delays for trump. By all evidence, trump has been delaying justice since the 1980s. he is way overdue for accountability before the law.

Let justice be done. Preferably before Halloween so "trump in prison garb" costumes can get sold at those Spirit Halloween shops that crop up in September.