As Donald Trump finds himself on the criminal end of a federal indictment for mishandling classified documents, a common refrain has emerged: He should’ve listened to his lawyers.
The handful of legal experts Trump hired to first stall a government probe, then defend him in court against its findings, are now speaking out about how “difficult” of a client the former president truly is and why his current legal clusterf*ck is one of his own making. Joseph diGenova, a former attorney for Trump, told Newsmax that the twice-impeached commander-in-chief made a “terrible mistake” in ignoring the advice of his lawyers in favor of directions from right-wing activists.
“Donald Trump is a very difficult client,” diGenova said. “I know the president. I’ve dealt with him. He’s a very stubborn man. He has a tendency to think he’s always right.”
Trump’s ego is apparently to blame for his most recent legal trouble after a Washington Post report revealed he chose to disregard his attorneys’ counsel and instead listen to Tom Fitton, the head of the conservative group Judicial Watch. Fitton supposedly told Trump what he wanted to hear — that he could keep his boxes upon boxes of stolen documents safely tucked away inside a Mar-a-Lago bathroom — and Trump followed his guidance instead of diGenova’s.
“He was advised by people close to him who were not the lawyers who were working on the case not to be cooperative,” diGenova explained, adding that the federal indictment could’ve been avoided if Trump had sought wiser counsel.
(Via RawStory)