Oops

President Trump’s legal team reversed course Sunday, announcing that a lawyer slated to join the attorneys handling the response to special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s Russia investigation will not come on board after all, the latest sign of disarray for Trump’s legal strategy.

[...]

Trump is now left, at least temporarily, without a traditional criminal defense attorney as Mueller’s team appears to be entering a critical phase in its investigation into Moscow’s interference in the 2016 election and whether the president’s campaign cooperated with Russia in this effort.

Joseph diGenova, the lawyer Trump wanted to replace Dowd, has often stridently defended the president on Fox News Channel and cast the Mueller probe as a conspiracy against him. Trump enjoyed the TV appearances and wanted diGenova on his team even though he did not know him, officials say.

But in a statement on Sunday, a spokesman for Trump’s legal team said both diGenova and his wife, Victoria Toensing, who is also a lawyer, would not be working on the Russia probe because clients they are representing in connection with the investigation posed conflicts of interest.

[...]

Trump’s issues with diGenova and Toensing went beyond their conflicts, said a person who spoke to the president recently. After meeting with the husband-and-wife team on Thursday — after diGenova’s hiring had been announced — the person said Trump was less impressed with diGenova than he had been while watching the former U.S. attorney on television.

  WaPo

Okay, here's the thing about that: diGenova and Toensing would have known they had a conflict because of other clients before they went to talk to him.  And they do. What was the idea?  They'd dump the others in favor of taking on Trump?  Maybe pass them off to some other lawyer in the firm.

So, that's not the reason they aren't taking on the case. It's possible Trump decided he didn't like the guy, but if that's actually the reason (which I don't believe, either, because they originally said diGenova was on the team), then it's because after talking to him, diGenova advised him to do something he didn't want to do, or not do something he wants to do...in other words, it became clear to one or both parties that Trump wouldn't take his attorney's advice, and no attorney worth his salt will take on a client like that.

Trump did not closely research diGenova or even consult with top aides, including Chief of Staff John F. Kelly and White House counsel Donald McGahn, before hiring him.

Of course not.  He saw him on Fox News seeming to defend Trump. Dowd was getting cantakerous, and this guy seemed like he really liked Trump, and that's all the Inflatable Rooster cared about.

Trump had hoped diGenova could serve as a surrogate in television interviews and play the role of attack dog in criticizing the Mueller probe.

DiGenova must have set him straight on that count.

Trump’s legal effort is now led by [Jay] Sekulow, a conservative attorney and radio host who has concentrated on constitutional issues, and assisted by Ty Cobb, a White House lawyer paid by taxpayers to represent the institution of the presidency rather than Trump personally. Cobb, too, has occasionally drawn the president’s ire, people familiar with the team have said.

[...]

Trump has recently been relying on Marc E. Kasowitz, who led his legal team until this summer and has represented Trump in several cases over the years. Kasowitz and Trump clashed over a number of issues, including Kasowitz’s belief that Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and a top White House aide, needed to leave the administration because of the potential legal problems he faced due to the probe and the potential problems they could cause Trump. After Dowd’s hiring, Kasowitz took a diminished role in handling the case.

[...]

Trump’s struggles are reminiscent of his difficulties in spring 2017 when he was first seeking new lawyers to represent him in the Russia probe. He interviewed a half-dozen high-profile legal stars in the white-collar defense bar, including Emmet T. Flood, Brendan V. Sullivan Jr. and A.B. Culvahouse Jr. All of them declined.

[...]

Ultimately, said one person close to Trump’s legal team, “He’s his own lawyer. Always has been and always will be.”

The person added: “You know what they say about a ‘lawyer’ who has himself as a client.”

Yes. Yes, we do.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:



Potential ethical problems - or an unwillingness to pay bills - or, in Trump's case, both.