Alleged co-conspirators find out
Alleged coup plotters, election subverters, and concealers of classified documents now find themselves under state and federal indictment. After doing the bidding of former president Donald Trump they risk not just jail for themselves and ruined reputations, but also financial ruin for their families.
Over a dozen of former President Trump’s close allies face growing legal bills when he’s least able to help — and they’re turning to desperate measures to raise money for their fights.
Why it matters: Trump’s co-defendants in the Fulton County case each need legal teams that could cost well into the six figures.
- “Even if you do some back-of-the envelope accounting, I’d think each motion filed is going to cost a defendant in the five figures minimum,” Caren Morrison, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of New York and an associate professor of law at Georgia State University, wrote in an email to Axios.
- “I don’t see anyone’s fee less than $250,000-500,000” unless they strike a plea deal with prosecutors, Cornell Law School adjunct professor Randy Zelin told Axios.
Trump co-defendants Jenna Ellis (former Trump lawyer), Cathy Latham (former Republican Party chair of Coffee County, Georgia), John Eastman (former Trump lawyer), and Jeffrey Clark (former Department of Justice official) have all launched crowd-funding appeals to pay for their defense. Their piles are less than yooge.
Former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani is so short on cash for his defense that his son is organizing fundraiser dinners:
Andrew Giuliani, a former New York Republican gubernatorial candidate, told CNBC in a statement: “It is helpful that President Trump has agreed to headline two events, one on September 7 at Bedminster and another this winter at Mar-a-Lago, where we are getting strong donor interest.” He declined to comment further.
Co-defendant Harrison Floyd remains behind bars after a judge denied bail, Reuters reports:
Harrison Floyd said at his first court appearance that he could not afford a private lawyer and had been denied representation by a public defender because he did not qualify.
Floyd, who appeared virtually, said that it typically cost between $40,000 to $100,000 just to retain a private lawyer to fly to Georgia.
“I cannot afford an attorney for something like this,” he said, telling Fulton County Superior Court Judge Emily Richardson that he did not want to put his family in debt.
Richardson told Floyd that he could either hire a lawyer or represent himself.
Richardson denied Floyd bail because he is accused in a separate case in Maryland of assaulting an FBI agent who tried to serve him with a subpoena. She considers him a flight risk.
Trump should consider them all a risk to his staying out of jail. Those who cannot afford to pay for a vigorous serious defense will cut deals Trump does not want to be on the losing side of.
Former attorney Michael Cohen, himself convicted and jailed over his service to Trump, called Trump “an idiot” Monday for not paying his co-defendants’ legal fees:
“He has not learned yet that … three people you don’t want to throw into the bus like that: your lawyer, your doctor and your mechanic. Because one way or the other, you’re gonna go down the hill and there’ll be no brakes.”