Donald Trump’s political organization and its allies have paid or promised to pay attorneys’ fees for more than a dozen witnesses called to testify in the Congressional investigation into the Jan. -president to be influencing the testimonies directly related to him.
The arrangement received renewed attention this week when Cassidy Hutchinson, a former Trump White House adviser, gave explosive testimony before the House committee, laying out new and highly negative details about Trump’s actions and speech on the day of the insurrection. lethal.
She testified after firing a lawyer who had been recommended to her by two former Trump aides and paid for by the former president’s Political Action Committee (PAC) and hiring other legal representation. Already enlisting new attorney Jody Hunt, Hutchinson appeared for a fourth hearing with the committee, in which she made further revelations and agreed to go public to testify.
It is not known whether the exchange of attorneys directly resulted in Hutchinson’s willingness to attend a live televised hearing and give a more extensive and detailed account of what he witnessed, but some committee members think it contributed, according to two people briefed on about the work of congressmen.
Trump said Hutchinson’s new lawyer may have encouraged the former aide to make false statements. “Her story has completely changed,” he complained on his own platform, Truth Social.
The episode raised suspicions that Trump and his allies may be implicitly or explicitly pressuring witnesses not to divulge crucial information that could incriminate the former president or show him in a negative light. Trump and his aides have previously been accused of trying to influence witnesses in past investigations that involved him.
Hutchinson told the Jan. 6 committee that she is one of the witnesses who has been contacted by at least one person close to Trump — who would have suggested it would be best for her to remain loyal to the former president.
Republican Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, vice chairman of the committee, cited two witnesses who allegedly made the same claims and indicated that lawmakers were investigating the possibility that the former president or his allies were trying to obstruct the investigations. She pointed out: “Most people know that trying to influence deponents to present false testimony is cause for very serious concern.”
Unlike witness manipulation, which is a crime, there is nothing illegal about a third party paying a witness’s attorney’s fees. Aides to former President Bill Clinton reported being burdened with attorney fees due to the various inquiries into the personal and business affairs of Clinton and his family; they were dismayed when a legal defense fund created by Clinton allies to help the first family pay off their multimillion-dollar legal debts did not help them. Clinton later promised to help raise funds to cover the legal expenses of his former advisers, but he did not make much of an effort to do so.
In Trump’s case, several former aides have urged him to pay their attorneys’ fees, many of them citing financial difficulties and the exorbitant cost of legal representation linked to a major congressional investigation. Still, given Trump’s potential criminal exposure and his interest in the investigation’s results, the practice has been the subject of increased attention.
According to informative financial statements, in May alone Trump’s “Save America” ​​PAC paid out about $200,000 to law firms. That total included $75,000 paid to JPRowley Law, which represents Cleta Mitchell, a pro-Trump attorney who filed a lawsuit to try to block the court summons to testify before the committee, and $50,000 to Silverman, Thompson, Slutkin & White. , who has represented Steve Bannon, a close ally of the former president who refused to appear before the committee and was charged with criminal contempt.
It was not immediately clear whether these payments were intended to cover legal fees in connection with the January 6 inquiry, but people briefed on the matter said the PAC has paid for legal representation of several former officials and advisers in the investigation, including some of high profile like Stephen Miller, who was a senior adviser to Trump. The managing partner of the law firm representing Bannon declined to comment. A spokesperson for Trump also declined to comment on the matter.
More than a dozen witnesses before the Jan. 6 committee have already received free legal advice and had their attorney fees paid by the American Conservative Union’s “First Amendment Fund,” which advises Trump’s staff on what fees to cover with their reservations. “seven-figure” financials. The information is from the organization’s president, Matt Schlapp.
“We have pro bono lawyers who talk to the lawyers of people who want help,” Schlapp said. “Almost everyone has already been paid.”
He said Matt Whitaker, the former acting secretary of justice, is working with the group “and has spent a lot of nights helping newer staff and giving us a lot of advice.”
Trump has been questioned before for apparently interfering with investigations into his conduct. In 2017, a lawyer for Trump in the investigation that sought to determine whether his campaign conspired with Russian officials during the 2016 presidential campaign raised the prospect of pardons for two people under investigation, Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort.
In 2018, when Trump stopped paying his personal attorney Michael Cohen’s fees when he was investigated by the Southern District of New York, Cohen eventually pleaded guilty and began cooperating with the special prosecutor who investigated a possible conspiracy between the campaign. of Trump and Russian representatives.
Christopher Bartolomucci, an attorney representing Judd Deere, a former White House press secretary, said he expects to receive some payment from Schlapp’s fund, which has a process for applying for financial assistance. According to him, the help offered is unconditional. “No one tried to influence me or my client,” he said.
Counting more than a dozen federal prosecutors, the Jan 6 committee faced some initial hurdles last year when it began its investigation and some of Trump’s key allies refused to cooperate. Investigators then took inspiration from the example of prosecutions against organized crime, shifting their investigation to lower-ranking figures and, acting discreetly, converting at least six low-level former Trump administration officials into witnesses who provided information about the crimes. activities of their bosses.
Hutchinson had already received a court subpoena when he approached Trump’s team to ask for help paying for his legal representation, according to two people familiar with the matter. Trump initially declined to cover the costs of lawyers for several former aides, but he agreed when some senior officials told him he would attract negative press coverage if he did not.
In some cases, attorneys who advised Trump have tried in vain to have their fees or related costs covered by entities that support the former president. This happened to Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s former personal attorney who encouraged him to try to subvert the election results. Giuliani’s allies publicly complained that he had high legal costs that he was having to pay on his own. There was no initiative to cover his expenses.
One of Trump’s allies may also be funding the legal defense of one of the extremists accused of helping to orchestrate the Capitol Hill invasion.
A dispute over those attorney fees has emerged in one of the most high-profile criminal cases linked to the Capitol attack — that of Stewart Rhodes, leader of the Oath Keepers militia who, along with eight of his subordinates, is being prosecuted for seditious conspiracy.
Last week, prosecutors filed documents with the court that, citing press articles, allege that attorneys’ fees for Rhodes and some of his co-defendants are being paid by the nonprofit Defending the Republic, headed by the pro-Trump lawyer. Sidney Powell.
Powell is primarily known for having filed a series of lawsuits based on conspiracy theories, alleging that Trump lost the election due to an alleged fraud involving electronic voting machines and altered ballots. She was also involved with Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser, in an open attempt to persuade the former president to use his national security apparatus to seize electronic voting machines across the country in an effort to retain power.
While prosecutors did not charge Powell with ethical misconduct, they asked Judge Amit P. Mehta to look into whether she was actually paying the fees and whether there was a conflict of interest.
