A couple of days ago when it was announced that Joe diGenova, (best-known as a commentator on "Fox News" far more than being an attorney) would be joining the Trump legal team, I was discussing the hiring with a friend. He was concerned about how problematic the lawyer would be from diGenova's reputation as conspiratorialist, tearing into Robert Mueller and the FBI investigation. What I said is that I thought this was an absolutely great hire by Trump for helping cause division in the country and for diehard Trump acolytes who'd love seeing an aggressive attacker on behalf of the president. And I added that I thought it was an even more spectacular hire for those who hated Trump and wanted to see him not only impeached but thrown in prison. Short version: the second reason matters. The first does not. This investigation is not about what the Trump supporters think about the case. Indeed, it's not about what anyone in the general public thinks. This is a legal case for federal court, where the Special Counsel for the FBI is investigating Russian efforts to manipulate the 2016 election, for which five people have already plead guilty and 19 additional indictments have been issued -- so far. And not only will voluminous mounds of evidence be involved, including sworn testimony by those involved, emails and audio tapes, and federal judges and juries deciding on all this evidence, but it will serve as the basis for the House of Representatives deliberating to decide whether or not to impeach the president of the United States, and if so, for the U.S. Senate to debate whether to convict him. It will not be decided by poll numbers. (Which is actually a good thing for Trump devotees, given his 39% approval.) No matter how much Joe diGenova and the Trump team of lawyers want to pound the table, weep crocodile tears and try to rile up "Fox News" viewers about a supposed fake Witch Hunt conspiracy, the reality is -- and reality in every sense of the word -- that this is not a "secret Deep State" cabal put together by rogue intelligence officers to bring down the president. It actually is an actual investigation into actual Russian involvement to actually disrupt our election, and the Special Counsel was actually and really-truly authorized by Trump's own State Department. So, while the new Trump team of lawyers mount their TV campaign to outrage the already outraged base, Robert Mueller's team has been methodically preparing for court for the past year. Add to that the pesky reality of how the Trump team of lawyers doesn't have all that much experience in impeachment cases, which is why they're actually there in the first place, and its new hire doesn't seem to have even practiced law for a while, but just been a TV commentator baying at the moon since the days of Bill Clinton 20 years ago, and when he did practice law his foundation was as a prosecutor, and now the former-lead attorney for the defense has been let go, all of which doesn't seem to be the best strategy for defending the White House. Especially given that the Special Counsel leading the opposition is the former Director of the FBI, and his team was put together of international experts whose career works has put members of the Mob in prison. It was a treat to see GOP consultant Rick Wilson address all this yesterday, as well, saying all of that and saying it oh-so-much better. He was on CNN and was as blunt and scathing as one could be about all this "strategy." When one of the other panelists pointed out how aggressive diGenova would be on TV, Wilson -- someone who I don't always agree with but find smart and objective -- put it all in proper and very Rick Wilsonian perspective. “Well, the problem for the whole theory of a reality TV set of lawyers is that Robert Mueller has a team of pipe-swinging, knee-breaking actual prosecutors and they’re going to chew these guys up and spit them out,” Wilson responded. “They’re going to take a Joe diGenova, who hasn’t practiced law for quite some time I understand, and they’re going to gut them — they’re going to roll them over and spank them.” But that was only the starting point, as he was just warming up, and then leaving the rest of the panel in almost awestruck admiration -- and that's not my perception, it's largely what host Don Lemon said at the end. Here's the video. It's short, but if you only want to see Rick Wilson, jump to the 2:00 mark.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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