‘One real mess’: Trump aides face the prospect of giant legal bills - POLITICO

The Republican National Committee also paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to law firms representing the president, the president’s son and former Trump campaign aides like Hicks and Corey Lewandowski as part of the Mueller probe.

Not everyone within the White House or Trump orbit followed the same protocol to receive help with legal costs or got the same deal. There was no single process for everyone to defray costs, said two people familiar with the White House’s legal strategy.

So far, no one inside the White House or Republican National Committee has signaled to current White House staff that the Trump orbit will help to cover any legal bills associated with the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry — even as Democrats eye more and more testimony from White House officials and the president’s inner circle.

One senior administration official said it is premature to discuss a legal defense fund at this time since the Democrats’ investigation seems more like a “partisan, raw political experience” than an actual legal threat, the official said. A Republican close to the White House said that, despite discussions of a potential fund, no one has set one up yet for the impeachment proceedings.

The lack of an impeachment-related legal defense fund worries some Trump allies, who feel that White House staffers need cover as they attempt to protect the president or speak publicly on his behalf.

But current White House officials are skittish about discussing legal representation at all, given the fact that the president feels he did nothing wrong in his conversation with the Ukrainian president.

The White House press office did not respond to a request for comment.

Even trying to run down a fact related to the impeachment inquiry for a reporter or other White House official can pose legal challenges, said Joe Lockhart, the White House press secretary during impeachment proceedings against President Bill Clinton.

“I remember having a conversation with the White House counsel’s office. The lawyers said, ‘You cannot be a fact-finder right now. Any information you need has to come through the counsel’s office. Once you become a fact-finder, you will be subpoenaed to testify and you will run up a large legal bill,’” Lockhart said about the protocol the Clinton White House followed during their impeachment inquiry. “Even on the smallest things, I would never call someone who was testifying. I would never call their lawyer.”

“You did not want to do anything that looked like you were obstructing the investigation in any way,” Lockhart added.

White House aides are trying to avoid becoming ensnared in the Democrats’ inquiry by lying low, declining television appearances and focusing on policy portfolios instead of the impeachment, even as it appears to consume the attention of the president.

For White House aides who want or need to hire an attorney, there are also no clear guidelines on the best practices. Many of the State or NSC staffers found their lawyers through recommendations from friends, or through professional networks from former jobs. Lawyer John Bellinger, who represents former Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor and Michael McKinley, a former senior adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, knew both men from his days as the State Department’s general counsel. Other aides have found attorneys through insurance company referrals when they tried to lean on legal liability insurance.

The Office of Government Ethics also does not give White House aides any guidance on the rules for hiring a lawyer, or accepting help from a legal defense fund, said Craig Holman, a government affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen, who has long lobbied OGE to create such rules.

The office is currently at work on guidelines but is not expected to unveil them until after 2020, Holman said.

That leaves White House aides with little guidance on accepting pro bono legal work or help from a potential legal defense fund as the Democrats’ inquiry proceeds.

Heading into an impeachment inquiry, “we won’t know how much money they are spending on their legal defense fund, or where the money is coming from,” Holman added. “To me, that is the biggest shortcoming. It is one real mess.”

Andrew Desiderio contributed to this report.

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