Former President Donald Trump is facing legal battles on multiple fronts, ranging from the Jan. 6 Capitol riot all the way to the FBI raid at his Florida estate, forcing him to seek an unlikely batch of attorneys to aid him.
A report by the Washington Post summarized that the former president is represented by a defense team that includes a past general counsel for a parking garage company, a Florida insurance lawyer who has never had a federal case, and a former host on a right-leaning news network. The outlet also reported Trump and his aides keep hearing “no” from seasoned attorneys as his team gears up for a possible felony indictment.
For Trump, finding top-level legal representation has been a struggle since at least the 2018 investigation into the Russia scandal.
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Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich denied any negative assertions about the quality of the legal team 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.”
The criminal lawyers on Trump’s legal team include Evan Corcoran, John Rowley III, Jim Trusty, Christina Bobb, and Lindsey Halligan, a team compiled in part by GOP strategist Boris Epshteyn. For his representation in civil cases, Trump’s team includes Jesse Binnall and Alina Habba.
Lindsey Halligan is a Florida-based attorney representing Trump whose background includes experience with insurance claims and commercial properties. So far, court records indicate there are no current filings under her name.
The following is a list of criminal and civil investigations into Trump and the known attorneys representing him in these cases.
Classified documents investigation
Trump is being investigated for a potential Espionage Act violation and possible obstruction of justice, according to the unsealed warrant for the unprecedented FBI raid of his Mar-a-Lago home.
Corcoran and Trusty, who formerly worked in the Justice Department’s organized crime section, will head up Trump’s legal team for the Mar-a-Lago documents criminal investigation.
Trump’s spokesperson said Trusty and Corcoran “have decades of prosecutorial experience” in complex U.S. cases.
Corcoran and lawyer Christina Bobb, who previously hosted a show on One America News Network, met with a senior DOJ official and several investigators earlier in the summer at Trump’s Florida estate to discuss and review boxes related to the inquiry into whether Trump possessed records that belonged to the National Archives, according to the Washington Post.
Jan. 6 hearings
Law enforcement officials are reportedly investigating Trump’s activities leading up to the Capitol riot, treading the same ground as the select committee Democrats impaneled in the House last year.
Trump’s most recent lawyers involved in congressional and criminal investigations into the Jan. 6 riot are attorneys Corcoran and Rowley, both of whom are already involved in additional legal fights related to the Capitol riot.
Corcoran and Rowley are representing the former president’s negotiations with federal prosecutors over potential executive privilege concerns related to Trump’s conversations with advisers on the day of the riot, a source familiar with the matter told Law.com.
Binnall is now representing Trump in civil lawsuits seeking to hold him responsible for the mob violence at the Capitol and the disruption of Congress’s certification of the election.
Election interference in Georgia
A grand jury in Georgia is criminally probing Trump’s conduct after the 2020 election.
Trump sought out one of the most prominent Atlanta-based attorneys for the job, Drew Findling, who is known by the hashtag #BillionDollarLawyer and has represented several rap stars, including Cardi B.
The Fulton County, Georgia, district attorney has been investigating Trump since January 2021 over a phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which Trump urged Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to change the election results in Georgia.
Business handling in New York
New York’s attorney general is conducting a civil investigation into whether the Trump Organization misrepresented the value of real estate assets in pursuit of financial benefits like tax breaks.
Habba, whose professional experience includes a role as general counsel at a parking garage company, is representing Tump’s challenges to the attorney general’s probe of his business.
Efforts to shield tax returns from Congress
A federal appeals court ruled on Aug. 9 that the IRS could provide Trump’s tax returns to Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee, who are working to investigate Trump’s personal financial and business records.
Trump can appeal to the full circuit court or the Supreme Court.
Trump attorney Cameron T. Norris has not issued a statement on the matter since the Aug. 9 ruling.
Defamation suit over Trump’s denial of rape claims
Magazine writer E. Jean Carroll alleges Trump sexually assaulted her in the 1990s and filed a defamation lawsuit against him after he claimed she made up her accusations, denying any wrongdoing. Habba is also representing Trump in this matter.
A trial for the case was established in July, with a judge in a New York federal court ordering it to begin on Feb. 6, 2023.
Litigation with niece Mary Trump
Habba will represent Trump in a civil battle between the former president and his niece Mary over a dispute regarding her portion of a 2001 family settlement.
Trump is also suing his niece and the New York Times in a New York state court over the disclosure of his tax information.
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Michael Cohen’s claims of retaliation against Trump and former attorney general
Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen filed a lawsuit against the former president and former Attorney General William Barr for allegedly retaliating against him for writing a tell-all memoir. Cohen claims he was put back in jail to prevent him from promoting his book while under home confinement.
Cohen was serving the remainder of his sentence for lying to Congress and campaign violations at home due to COVID-19 concerns when he began a social media campaign in the summer of 2020. He argues he was sent back to prison to spend 16 days in solitary confinement out of retaliation. Habba is representing Trump in this case.
