Trump’s New York-based lawyers have to stop asking for ‘political favors’

New York Times columnist Mark Landler has some advice for the Trump lawyers who want to go after a political ally: Stop asking.
The lawyer for former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, Corey Lewkowicz, said in a recent interview that he was “shocked” to learn that former Trump attorney Michael Cohen and Manafort’s longtime deputy, Brad Parscale, had retained a firm called “The Firm” to take on his former boss.
It was an early sign that Cohen and Parscale had been working to help Trump fight the Russia investigation, and it’s unclear how much they actually contributed to the legal defense of the president.
But Landler’s story about Parscale and Lewkowitz, published Monday, makes clear why Trump’s lawyers were interested in working with the firm.
Landler writes that Parscale was a senior lawyer in the Trump Organization at the time of the Russian investigation, a job that “focuses on the issues of ethics, compliance, and transparency” and is “the sort of work that the Trump brand needs” to be successful.
The story includes a list of other Trump associates and former employees who are represented by the firm, which has been hired to help defend Trump in his ongoing Russia investigation.
The Times story quotes a Trump associate who worked for Parscale who said the former Trump lawyer’s “relationship with Cohen and his deputy” made the firm “the go-to place” for the president’s legal team.
“This is where you go to go find the best lawyers,” the source said.
The firm has been retained by Trump’s legal teams in recent months, including Trump’s longtime friend Rudy Giuliani, who is reportedly seeking to defend Trump against a new Russia probe.
Trump has called the Russian probe a “witch hunt,” and his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, has said there is “no evidence” that anyone affiliated with the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election.
Trump’s lawyer has not responded to Landler, who writes that he is “shaken by the fact that Trump associates who are working for the President of the United States are being brought into the Russia case.
And that’s something that you don’t hear about in the media.”
The Times’ report, published by the Times’ news division, says the firm represents Trump, his family members, and their businesses, including his company, and that it has “worked for the first time in more than 20 years to defend the President in a pending Russia-related lawsuit.”
Landler wrote about Parscole and LewKowitz in his story, describing them as “fierce defenders of Mr. Trump,” and he described their work as a “major departure from traditional White House counsels.”
“I can’t speak to whether the President will accept any of the work they’ve done, but they will, for sure, and they will be the ones who will go down in history as the best counsel in Trumpworld,” Landler said.
He continued, “Their work is a testament to how smart they are.”