Legal teams involved in the Special Counsel investigation (2017–present)

The 2017 Special Counsel investigation involves multiple legal teams, specifically the attorneys, supervised by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, taking part in the investigation; the team defending President Trump in his personally capacity; and the team representing the White House as an institution separate from the President.

According to CNN, as of August 2018, the prosecution team includes 15 attorneys, led by Mueller.[1] The additional supporting staff brings the number over 30. There have been few reported departures from Mueller's team.

The defense has two components: Emmet Flood representing the White House, and a team representing Trump personally, including Jay Sekulow, Andrew Ekonomou, Rudy Giuliani, the Raskin & Raskin law firm, and Joanna Hendon. Former members of the defense team include white-collar crimes expert John Dowd, Trump's long-time personal attorney Michael Cohen, and Ty Cobb representing the office of the presidency.

Mueller's legal team has been consistently attacked as biased against President Trump, who has repeatedly referred to his team as "The 13 Angry Democrats".[2] However, Mueller himself is a registered Republican, and choosing to hire or not hire career attorneys on the basis of political affiliation is contrary to both Justice Department policy and federal law.[3]

Mueller and investigation team

Special Counsel and former FBI Director Robert Mueller

Upon his appointment as special counsel, Mueller resigned his position at the Washington office of law firm WilmerHale, along with two colleagues, Aaron Zebley and James L. Quarles III.[4][5] On May 23, 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice ethics experts announced they had declared Mueller ethically able to function as special counsel.[6]

Politico proposed that the "ideal team" would likely have six to eight prosecutors, along with administrative assistants and experts in areas such as money laundering or interpreting tax returns.[7] Mueller had hired 17 lawyers by February 2018,[8] and had a total staff of over three dozen, including investigators and other non-attorneys by August 2017.[9] He also has an active role in managing the inquiry.[10]

Attorneys
Support personnel
  • Jason Alberts: leading corruption investigator with the New York FBI office, formerly a political appointee of President George W. Bush in the Department of the Interior's solicitor's office[22]
  • David Archey: FBI agent, succeeded Peter Strzok as leader of the team's FBI contingent, previously part of the Hillary Clinton email investigation[22]
  • William Barnett: FBI agent investigating Michael Flynn[22]
  • Peter Carr: team spokesman, a veteran DOJ spokesman[23]
  • Francesco Corral: FBI supervisory special agent investigating cybersecurity aspects of the case, previously worked on foreign intelligence cybersecurity cases[22]
  • Brock W. Domin: FBI special agent, majored in Russian language and literature at Notre Dame, specialized in national security investigations and financial crimes[22]
  • Sherine Ebadi: FBI agent specialized in fraud, money laundering and identity theft[22]
  • Jennifer Edwards: accountant with the FBI since 2006, won the Attorney General's award in 2016 for her work on the DC-area Child Exploitation Task Force of the FBI[22]
  • Robert Gibbs: FBI agent since 2003, previously worked on Chinese espionage cases[22]
  • Walter Giardina: FBI agent and Marine veteran of the Iraq War[22]
  • Curtis Heide: FBI agent previously based in Chicago[22]
  • Omer Meisel: FBI agent since 1999 and former Securities and Exchange Commission investigator, previously worked on high-profile financial crime and public corruption cases[22]

Mueller has also added unidentified agents of the IRS Criminal Investigations Division (also known as CI) to his team. The Daily Beast, referring to the CI division as one of the government's "most tight-knit, specialized, and secretive investigative entities," reported that Mueller had enjoyed working with CI agents when he was a government attorney.[24]

Mueller's team is also working with the Attorney General of New York on its investigation into Manafort's financial transactions.[25]

Former members
Personnel affiliations

Though Trump and others have criticized the fact that many members of Mueller's team have had some affiliation with the Democratic Party, federal regulations prohibit Mueller from considering political affiliation in hiring decisions.[35] Republican members of the House of Representatives have accused the investigation of being manned by personnel with an "anti-Trump" bias who "let Clinton off easy last year", in reference to the FBI's investigation of Hillary Clinton's email server.[36]

Cost as of March 2018

As of March 31, 2018, the total cost of the investigation has been $16.7 million. $4.4 million of that was used for staff pay and benefits at the Special Counsel's Office.[37] The attorneys have taken significant cuts in pay to work on the investigation, with their normal salaries "ranging from just under $1 million (for Zebley) to about $4.1 million (for Quarles)". Their salaries "range from $105,782 to $187,000".[37]

Trump's lead attorney Rudy Giuliani disclosed on September 13, 2018 that Trump's and Manafort's legal teams have had a joint defense agreement through which they've exchanged confidential information "all during the investigation."[38]

Members of President Trump's legal team include:[39]

Representing the White House

Representing Trump personally

Rudy Giuliani

Former members include:

  • Michael J. Bowe: an attorney at Marc Kasowitz's firm[5]
  • Mark Corallo, spokesman for Kasowitz and the White House defense; resigned on July 20, 2017.[49]
  • John M. Dowd, former leader of the team;[50][51] joined in June 2017; resigned on March 22, 2018.[52]
  • Marc Kasowitz, Trump's personal attorney and the first member of the team; resigned on July 20, 2017.[53][49]
  • Ty Cobb: a white-collar crime lawyer;[49][50] was on White House staff representing the office of the presidency and was not on Trump's personal legal team.[54] He joined in June 2017[39] and announced on May 2, 2018, that he would leave the team with the appointment of Emmet Flood to replace him.[40] Cobb's last day was May 18, 2018.
  • Michael Cohen, Trump's long-time personal attorney.[55]

Prominent lawyers and law firms that have declined offers to join Trump's legal team:

In an article describing the "unique circumstance" of Rudy Giuliani's unpaid leave of absence from Greenberg Traurig while representing Trump, possibly because of "potential conflicts", Christine Simmons referred to how some other law firms may have turned down representing Trump in the Russia case due to "public relations headaches or business and recruitment concerns".[44] Trump has called such views a "Fake News narrative",[56][57] but, according to Ryan Lovelace, "many Washington defense attorneys aren't so sure".[57]

A number of prominent lawyers and law firms are known to have declined offers to join Trump's legal team,[58][59] including Robert S. Bennett of Hogan Lovells,[60] Paul Clement and Mark Filip, both with Kirkland & Ellis,[61][61] Robert Giuffra Jr. of Sullivan & Cromwell,[60] Theodore B. Olson of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher,[62] and Brendan V. Sullivan Jr. of Williams & Connolly.[61] Other firms with attorneys who have declined to represent Trump include Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan,[63] Steptoe & Johnson,[63] and Winston & Strawn.[64] Former U.S. Attorney Joseph diGenova and his wife Victoria Toensing were also briefly slated to join Trump's legal team, but withdrew their services from Trump in March 2018, citing conflicts of interest.[65]

Others

James Comey, whose assertions regarding statements made by Trump are central to the investigation, has a legal team including former independent counsel Patrick Fitzgerald.[66]

Paul Manafort, a key player in the allegations of improper contact between then-candidate Trump and the Russian government, is represented by Kevin Downing.[67][68]

Michael Cohen, Trump's former long-time personal attorney, who recently turned on the president and admitted to violating campaign-finance laws, is represented by Lanny Davis.[69][70]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Polantz, Katelyn (2018-08-31). "Two prosecutors leave Mueller's office". CNN. Retrieved 2018-08-31.
  2. ↑ "Donald J. Trump on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 2018-09-10.
  3. ↑ "Checking Trump's claims on Mueller team's partisanship". @politifact. Retrieved 2018-09-10.
  4. ↑ Taylor, Jessica; Johnson, Carrie (May 17, 2017). "Former FBI Director Mueller Appointed As Special Counsel To Oversee Russia Probe". NPR. Archived from the original on May 17, 2017.
  5. 1 2 3 Jarrett, Laura; Perez, Evan (June 10, 2017). "Mueller staffing up Russia probe while Trump lawyer declares victory". CNN. Archived from the original on June 10, 2017. Retrieved June 10, 2017.
  6. ↑ Savage, Charlie (May 23, 2017). "Ethics experts clear special counsel in Russia investigation". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 23, 2017.
  7. 1 2 Samuelsohn, Darren (June 6, 2017). "Everything we know about the Mueller probe so far". Politico. Retrieved June 7, 2017.
  8. 1 2 Cohen, Marshall; Yellin, Tal; Kelly, Caroline; Stark, Liz (February 23, 2018). "Meet the Mueller team". CNN.
  9. ↑ Perez, Evan; Brown, Pamela; Prokupecz, Shimon (August 3, 2017). "One year into the FBI's Russia investigation, Mueller is on the Trump money trail". CNN. Archived from the original on August 4, 2017. Retrieved August 4, 2017.
  10. ↑ Williams, Pete (June 2, 2017). "Special Counsel Robert Mueller Taking Close Control of Russia Investigation". NBC News. Archived from the original on June 10, 2017.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Zapotosky, Matt (July 5, 2017). "As Mueller builds his Russia special-counsel team, every hire is under scrutiny". The Washington Post.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 Woodruff, Betsy (July 11, 2018). "Inside Mueller's New Army". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on July 11, 2018.
  13. ↑ Freifeld, Karen (August 1, 2017). "Exclusive: Former Justice Department official joins Mueller team". Reuters. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
  14. ↑ Overley, Jeff (May 9, 2016). "100 Oral Arguments: How A DOJ Atty Made High Court History". Law360. Archived from the original on June 13, 2017. Retrieved June 9, 2017.
  15. ↑ Mauro, Tony (June 9, 2017). "Mueller Enlists Top Criminal Law Expert for Russia Probe". The National Law Journal. Retrieved June 10, 2017.
  16. ↑ Weiser, Benjamin (June 30, 2017). "Manhattan Prosecutor Joins Inquiry into Russian Meddling in Election". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 1, 2017. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  17. ↑ Coyle, Marcia (June 22, 2017). "Mueller Bolsters Russia Team's Appellate Readiness in New Hire". The National Law Journal. Archived from the original on July 18, 2017. Retrieved June 24, 2017.
  18. ↑ Freifeld, Karen (October 3, 2017). "Justice Department appeals lawyer on Mueller Russia probe". Reuters. Retrieved May 14, 2018.
  19. ↑ Mauro, Tony (June 19, 2017). "Mueller Recruits Another Lawyer from Solicitor General's Office to Russia Probe". The National Law Journal. Archived from the original on August 10, 2017.
  20. ↑ Johnson, Carrie (July 8, 2017). "Special Counsel Mueller Lets His Actions Do The Talking: 15 Hires, More to Come". NPR. Archived from the original on July 8, 2017. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  21. ↑ Tillman, Zoe (June 27, 2017). "A Lawyer Who Worked For Rod Rosenstein Has Joined The Special Counsel Team Investigating Russia". BuzzFeed. Archived from the original on July 7, 2017. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  22. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Gerstein, Josh (May 17, 2018). "Inside Mueller's FBI team". Politico. Retrieved May 17, 2018.
  23. ↑ Gerstein, Josh (May 26, 2017). "Trump–Russia special prosecutor Mueller taps spokesman". Politico. Archived from the original on June 15, 2017.
  24. ↑ Woodruff, Betsy (August 31, 2017). "Exclusive: Mueller Enlists the IRS for His Trump–Russia Investigation". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on September 1, 2017. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
  25. ↑ "Mueller teams up with New York attorney general in Manafort probe". Politico.
  26. ↑ Zapotosky, Matt (January 10, 2018). "Mueller adds veteran cyber prosecutor to special-counsel team". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 10, 2018.
  27. ↑ "Another prosecutor joins Trump–Russia probe". Politico. September 15, 2017. Archived from the original on September 16, 2017.
  28. 1 2 Polantz, Katy (2018-10-03). "2 additional prosecutors leave Mueller's office". CNN. Retrieved 2018-10-03.
  29. ↑ Graff, Garrett (June 14, 2017). "Robert Mueller Chooses His Investigatory Dream Team". Wired. Retrieved June 14, 2017.
  30. ↑ Levine, Mike; Thomas, Pierre (September 28, 2017). "Special counsel's Russia investigation team loses 2nd FBI veteran". ABC News. Retrieved December 5, 2017.
  31. ↑ "The FBI agent Mueller ousted was behind 2 critical turning points in the Clinton and Trump–Russia investigations". Business Insider.
  32. ↑ Demirjian, Karoun; Barrett, Devlin (December 2, 2017). "Top FBI official assigned to Mueller's Russia probe said to have been removed after sending anti-Trump texts". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 6, 2017.
  33. ↑ Levine, Mike (August 16, 2017). "Special counsel's Russia probe loses top FBI investigator". ABC News. Archived from the original on August 17, 2017. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
  34. ↑ "Mueller removed FBI agent from Russia probe for anti-Trump texts: reports". Reuters. December 2, 2017. Retrieved December 2, 2017.
  35. ↑ Kessler, Glenn (March 18, 2018). "Analysis – Fact-checking Trump's error-filled tweetstorm about the Mueller probe". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 19, 2018.
  36. ↑ Kelly, Erin (December 6, 2017). "House conservatives ramp up accusations of bias against Trump in Russia probe". USA Today.
  37. 1 2 Zahn, Max (June 14, 2018). "Mueller's Team Gave Up Millions In Pay to Join the Russia Probe. Here's How Much They Make". Time. Retrieved June 15, 2018.
  38. ↑ "Giuliani: Trump sees no danger in Manafort plea". Retrieved September 15, 2018.
  39. 1 2 3 Maizland, Lindsay (July 26, 2017). "Meet the new team of lawyers trying to protect Donald Trump". Vox. Archived from the original on July 28, 2017. Retrieved July 28, 2017.
  40. 1 2 "Trump to Add Clinton Impeachment Lawyer Emmet Flood to Replace Ty Cobb". The New York Times. May 2, 2018. Retrieved May 2, 2018 – via NYTimes.com.
  41. ↑ Evans, Garrett (June 20, 2017). "Meet Jay Sekulow, the new face of Trump's legal team". TheHill. Retrieved April 21, 2018.
  42. ↑ Savransky, Rebecca (March 28, 2018). "Little-known lawyer to take larger role on Trump defense team: report". The Hill. Retrieved April 11, 2018.
  43. 1 2 Costa, Robert; Dawsey, Josh (April 19, 2018). "Giuliani says he is joining Trump's legal team to 'negotiate an end' to Mueller probe". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 19, 2018.
  44. 1 2 Simmons, Christine (May 4, 2018). "Citing 'Potential Conflicts,' Greenberg Traurig Says Giuliani on Unpaid Leave". New York Law Journal. Retrieved May 6, 2018.
  45. ↑ "Welcome !". www.raskinlaw.com. Retrieved April 19, 2018.
  46. ↑ Haberman, Maggie; Schmidt, Michael S. (April 19, 2018). "Giuliani to Join Trump's Legal Team". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 20, 2018.
  47. ↑ "Who Is Joanna Hendon? Trump's New Lawyer Appears at Michael Cohen Hearing". Newsweek. April 13, 2018.
  48. ↑ "Joanna C. Hendon – Spears & Imes LLP". Newsweek. Retrieved April 13, 2018.
  49. 1 2 3 "Marc Kasowitz and Mark Corallo depart Trump's legal team". CBS News. July 21, 2017. Archived from the original on July 23, 2017. Retrieved July 24, 2017.
  50. 1 2 Samuelsohn, Darren (July 26, 2017). "Trump's newest Russia lawyer: 'I think very highly' of Mueller". Politico. Retrieved July 28, 2017.
  51. ↑ Green, Miranda; de Vogue, Ariane (June 16, 2017). "Trump adds lawyer John Dowd to Russia legal team". CNN. Archived from the original on June 17, 2017. Retrieved June 18, 2017.
  52. ↑ S. Schmidt, Michael; Haberman, Maggie (March 22, 2018). "John Dowd Resigns as Trump's Lead Lawyer in Special Counsel Inquiry". The New York Times. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
  53. ↑ Demick, Barbara (May 24, 2017). "Marc Kasowitz helped Trump through bankruptcy and divorce. Now he's taking on the biggest case of his career". The Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on June 8, 2017. Retrieved June 8, 2017.
  54. ↑ Raymond, Adam K. "Report: Trump's Personal Lawyers Don't Have Security Clearance". Daily Intelligencer. Retrieved May 2, 2018.
  55. ↑ "Michael Cohen is officially fired". 2018-06-15. Retrieved 2018-09-15.
  56. ↑ "Donald J. Trump on Twitter". Twitter. March 27, 2018. Retrieved May 6, 2018. Many lawyers and top law firms want to represent me in the Russia case...don't believe the Fake News narrative that it is hard to find a lawyer who wants to take this on. Fame & fortune will NEVER be turned down by a lawyer, though some are conflicted....
  57. 1 2 Lovelace, Ryan (March 26, 2018). "White-Collar Pros Weigh Risks, 'Stigma' of Joining Trump Team". The National Law Journal. Retrieved May 6, 2018.
  58. ↑ Kranish, Michael (June 6, 2017). "Trump's legal dream team falters as D.C. heavyweights take a pass". The Washington Post.
  59. ↑ Isikoff, Michael (June 6, 2017). "Four top law firms turned down requests to represent Trump". Yahoo News.
  60. 1 2 Scannell, Carol (April 15, 2018). "Another white collar lawyer turns down Trump". CNN.
  61. 1 2 3 Linsky, Annie (April 21, 2018). "Why the most powerful man in the world has struggled to assemble a legal team". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved April 21, 2018.
  62. ↑ Costa, Robert; Leonnig, Carol D. (March 20, 2018). "Star GOP lawyer Theodore B. Olson declines offer to join Trump legal team". The Washington Post.
  63. 1 2 Samuelsohn, Darren (April 16, 2018). "Cohen crisis shows short-handed Trump legal team's scramble". Politico.
  64. ↑ Polantz, Katelyn; Vazquez, Maegan (March 27, 2018). "Two more lawyers decline to join Trump legal team". CNN.
  65. ↑ Haberman, Maggie; Schmidt, Michael S.; Landler, Mark (March 25, 2018). "Trump Won't Hire 2 Lawyers Whose Appointments Were Announced Days Ago". The New York Times. Retrieved March 25, 2018.
  66. ↑ Samuelsohn, Darren (April 25, 2018). "Ex-U.S. attorney Patrick Fitzgerald on Comey's legal team". Politico.
  67. ↑ Foer, Franklin. "Paul Manafort, American Hustler". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2018-09-10.
  68. ↑ Mangan, Dan (2018-08-14). "Manafort lawyers' decision to rest without calling witnesses could lead to acquittal". CNBC. Retrieved 2018-09-10.
  69. ↑ "Michael Cohen's Lawyer Says His Client Would Never Accept Pardon From 'Corrupt' Trump". NPR.org. Retrieved 2018-09-10.
  70. ↑ Samuels, Brett (2018-08-21). "Michael Cohen pleads guilty to eight counts". TheHill. Retrieved 2018-09-10.
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