The attorney-client relationship is historically one of the most sacred, cloaked with the (usually) impenetrable privilege of complete confidentiality and one that is imbued with explicit and implicit trust. Clients look to their lawyers for guidance, a keen knowledge of the law, and the ability to provide favorable public-facing content for those moments and cases where the client cannot interface with the media and the public. There are professional standards and each state has rules of conduct.
With Trump, you have the perfect storm of infighting lawyers jostling for pole position and a client who is prone to embracing the microphone and never meeting a camera he didn’t love.
But when it comes to the many cases of former President Donald Trump, those sacred bonds are sometimes bent to the point of breaking. Who’s to blame? Depends on who you ask, I suspect. But regardless of where the fault may lie, this kind of havoc does not bode well for Trump’s legal future. When faced with so many legal challenges, a surgically orchestrated strategy is necessary. Sometimes, even just the outward image of prepared and organized calm is the goal. But with Trump, you have the perfect storm of infighting lawyers jostling for pole position and a client who is prone to embracing the microphone and never meeting a camera he didn’t love. It’s a recipe for an attorney-client disaster.
Trump presently has several pending cases and investigations, both state and federal:
- He is being prosecuted by way of a 34-count felony indictment by the Manhattan district attorney’s office, led by Alvin Bragg, charging him with falsification of business records relating to payments made to Trump’s former “fixer” and personal attorney, Michael Cohen, to reimburse Cohen for a hush money payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels. That case was just set for trial in March 2024.
- After being found civilly liable for $5 million in damages by a New York jury of his peers for the sexual abuse and defamation of E. Jean Carroll, Trump is now facing the prospect of an amended complaint (to include statements made after the verdict in another case) for his earlier defamation of Carroll in June 2019, when he was president of the United States.
- New York Attorney General Letitia James has filed a $250 million civil lawsuit against Trump, three of his adult children and the Trump Organization, accusing them of falsely inflating the value of assets in order to defraud insurers and lenders. Trump has been deposed twice now in that case; the first time he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination more than 400 times.
- Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith presently has at least two investigations into the twice-impeached Trump: (1) allegations of improper and illegal retention of classified materials once his presidency was terminated and (2) allegations of Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in various states, including Georgia.
- In Georgia, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is pursuing an investigation into Trump’s alleged attempts to extort officials in the state into overturning the results of the 2020 presidential election and to install a fake slate of electors to vote for Trump over the lawfully elected Joe Biden.
And to be clear, these are the cases and investigations about which we are aware. There could be other investigations that are underway about which we have no knowledge at this stage. Considering all of the above, you would think a client facing that amount of legal peril would have a top-notch team of lawyers in place to defend him. But when you have a client like Trump, normal expectations don’t apply.
Just recently, attorney Tim Parlatore announced — very publicly, via voluntarily testifying for the Mar-a-Lago documents investigation — that he was resigning from the Trump legal team, allegedly because of his inability to provide the right kind of counsel to Trump due to obstacles created by fellow Trump lawyer Boris Epshteyn. Parlatore claims that Epshteyn was keeping him and other lawyers from being able to speak to Trump and that Epshteyn was not being honest with their client.
Interestingly, it was just a few months ago that Parlatore was singing Epshteyn’s praises, according to The New York Times, whom he told, “It’s good to have someone who’s a lawyer who is also inside the palace gates.” It doesn’t bode well that only a few months after that, Parlatore publicly derided Epshteyn and said Epshteyn was gatekeeping the rest of the legal team from accessing their one client (Trump).
Parlatore isn’t the only attorney on Trump’s Keystone Cops legal team to throw up the white flag.
Parlatore also went after fellow Trump attorney Joe Tacopina for what Parlatore said was a “potential conflict of interest” in Tacopina representing Trump in the Manhattan district attorney’s office Stormy Daniels hush money criminal case. At one time, Daniels had contacted Tacopina about possibly representing her and Parlatore questioned openly on cable news whether Tacopina was the “right” attorney to represent Trump at trial.
Although Epshteyn has been referred to as Trump’s in-house counsel, Parlatore has said he has reportedly little documented legal experience, including none in the criminal defense arena. Epshteyn has created a name for himself in MAGA circles for being a political strategist, for his combative style and for his access to Trump. Trump also has apparently given Epshteyn the ability to hire and fire attorneys.
Parlatore isn’t the only attorney on Trump’s Keystone Cops legal team to throw up the white flag. Evan Corcoran, who was Trump’s lead attorney regarding the Mar-a-Lago classified documents investigation, resigned from that role after being subpoenaed by the Justice Department to testify before a federal grand jury. Granted, Corcoran remains on the global legal team as counsel for Trump, but it isn’t a commonplace occurrence for an attorney to end up being compelled by way of court order to testify before a grand jury regarding conduct committed by a client. Lest Corcoran feel lonely, though, Parlatore has also provided testimony before Jack Smith’s federal grand jury for his role in the Mar-a-Lago documents case. However, Parlatore chose to appear voluntarily before the grand jury without the need for a subpoena to give testimony about how additional document searches were conducted at other Trump properties.
Pat A. Cipollone, former Trump White House counsel, and Patrick Philbin, former deputy White House counsel, have also testified before a federal grand jury about Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Oh, and Epshteyn? He has testified before Fani Willis’ Fulton County special grand jury regarding Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Corcoran also has the dubious honor of being the subject of piercing attorney-client privilege because of the crime-fraud exception for his communications — both written and verbal — with Trump. The successful application of the crime-fraud exception is rare. A few federal judges, as well as some appellate court judges, have found that there was sufficient evidence of criminal activity afoot. If I were Corcoran, I would vacate the premises of Trump world in its entirety. I am of course not counsel to Corcoran, although to be clear, several Trump lawyers have had to retain their own lawyers due to their representation of Trump. The newest iteration of “MAGA” might as well now stand for “Making Attorneys Get Attorneys.” Notable examples include Christina Bobb, who was interviewed by the FBI for her role in signing off on the certification representing that there were no more classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, despite further evidence proving that certification was not true. Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal counsel, has had to retain several lawyers because of his own exposure, both criminal and civil, after representing Trump over the years. Let’s also not forget other former Trump lawyers like Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis and John Eastman, all of whom are facing ethics complaints affecting their ability to practice law in various jurisdictions, as well as several investigations for their roles as Trump’s counsel. In some instances and depending upon the findings by various referees and judges in these different jurisdictions that are investigating former Trump lawyers, these attorneys could lose their licenses to practice law. Trump runs his mouth unfettered and unedited and uncontrolled. He spent considerable time during a recent town hall on CNN stating for all to hear, including prosecutors far and wide, that he took classified documents from the White House, and he took the opportunity to potentially defame Carroll further. If he’s being given legal advice not to talk, he is clearly not listening or he doesn’t respect the counsel being dispensed. Historically, Trump has done and said whatever he wants, presumably regardless of the legal advice being provided by his dozens of attorneys. And oftentimes that has occurred to his legal peril. When facing multiple cases and multiple investigations, some of which could result in years of incarceration in prison, a client like Trump should not be speaking publicly about the facts of a case or the circumstances underlying the basis of an investigation. But Trump? He’ll go on national TV and do it anyway. It’s interesting that throughout all of the dirty laundry airing of the inner turmoil regarding his legal team, Trump has remained unusually quiet. Trump himself has not come forward to voice his support for any one attorney. So the public continues, with a combination of fascination and disgust, to watch the train wreck that is Trump Legal World unfold like a political iteration of “The Hunger Games.” Which attorney will be left standing at the end?
Katie S. Phang
Katie S. Phang is the host of "The Katie Phang Show," which airs Saturdays at 12 p.m. ET on MSNBC. She is a legal contributor for NBC News and MSNBC based in Miami. She leverages her significant trial attorney experience to provide analysis and commentary on the latest legal issues. 
