Former President Donald Trump is facing many different legal battles. Thus far, he’s only been formally charged with a crime in one case, though more charges could soon follow in other investigations into him.
As this is all happening, there are some people on Trump’s team of attorneys who are worried that some people won’t stay loyal to them or to the former president.
On Tuesday, The Daily Beast reported that there are attorneys on Trump’s team that some of the rank-and-file lawyers could eventually decide to flip and talk with the Department of Justice, ultimately becoming witnesses against Trump rather than representing him in court.
There is this fear as the DOJ is investigating not just Trump but the actions of members of his legal team as it relates to the probe into how the former president handled classified documents. Last August, this case exploded when the FBI raided Trump’s home in the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Trump has a large legal team, and several people who are serving on that team now have told The Daily Beast that the situation is very chaotic at best. Much of the strategy that’s being constructed is going through Boris Epshteyn, who serves as the in-house counsel for the former president.
With so many different personalities clashing on Trump’s legal team, there are concerns that some of these people could flip on Trump and turn government witness.
In the meantime, the special counsel headed up that investigation for the DOJ, Jack Smith, is thought to be coming to a conclusion as to whether they should pursue any criminal charges against Trump or any of his colleagues in that case.
As this is happening, prosecutors are apparently turning up the heat on lawyers serving on Trump’s legal team, which is resulting in existing tensions fueling up even more.
There are two examples of instances in this case involving Trump attorneys that have some of the others on his team very worried.
One is that M. Evan Corcoran, a former federal prosecutor who is working on Trump’s legal team in this case, had his notes handed over to the prosecution team by a federal judge. Those notes cited that there was the possibility of a crime existing.
In addition, the attorney general in New York questioned attorney Alina Habba about that office’s investigation into potential business fraud conducted by Trump, Habba said she looked all over the place at the Mar-a-Lago resort for any relevant papers. She then said that once the FBI searched his property, they found classified documents in the same places she had searched before.
These two events, according to some of the attorneys on Trump’s team, are very concerning and potential liabilities, according to The Daily Beast report. Prosecutors could use this information, in essence, to pressure the attorneys involved to serve as witnesses against Trump.
Timothy Partlatore has already departed the Trump legal team due to internal tensions. When he left, he said that Epshteyn was to blame, since he was making Trump’s defense “much harder than it needed to be.”
