Former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti finds it hard to comprehend that former President Donald Trump doesn’t have, in his estimation, a top-tier law firm at his disposal to help him combat the 91 felony charges he faces in four separate criminal cases — 44 federal charges and 47 state charges in all.
Instead of a Boies Schiller Flexner, a Debevoise & Plimpton, a Cravath, Swain & Moore, Trump has — according to Mariotti — “a pieced-together scrabble of lawyers who really don’t have the resources, frankly, to handle all the criminal cases at once that he has brought upon himself. … Ultimately, I think he’ll pay a price when he goes to trial.”
Media: @renato_mariotti to @Acosta: #DonaldTrump "is a criminal defense attorney's worst nightmare. If you told me 10 years ago that a man who is supposedly a billionaire and was president of the United States would have trouble finding lawyers to take his money to represent him,… pic.twitter.com/8am7K9sE0f
— Porter Anderson (@Porter_Anderson) September 17, 2023
“Resources” is the key in Mariotti’s statement, not smarts or courtroom savvy, which can belong to any legal practitioner. What Mariotti underscores is that the resources — largely in personnel — required to successfully defend a case brought by the DOJ are substantial, and that Trump’s team, however exceptional, will suffer the results of being under-resourced.
The point is driven home by the idea that Judge Tanya Chutkan could soon end up on the path Mariotti recommends on the thorny issue of a Trump “gag” order. (Chutkan is currently considering a request by Special Counsel Jack Smith to put restrictions on Trump’s public communication in instances where it is used to intimidate witnesses or taint the prosecution.)
Mariotti believes, as many do, that a gag order limiting the former President’s speech could be far too fraught politically to implement, even if justified under the law.
So the former federal prosecutor suggests an alternative solution: moving the case up on the calendar so that Trump’s unrestricted speech would be given a smaller window of time in which to operate.
Mariotti writes that Chutkan “would be wise not to impose a gag order. Instead she should move up the trial date.”
Jack Smith was smart to put Trump’s misconduct in front of the judge. She is not going to like it, and it certainly won’t make her more inclined to rule in his favor.
— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) September 16, 2023
But Judge Chutkan would be wise *not* to impose a gag order. Instead she should move up the trial date. https://t.co/CS67mZXhC0
That path (of least MAGA resistance) — shrinking the time frame to get ready for trial — would presumably put even more pressure on a legal team with fewer resources, which is how Mariotti concludes there ultimately may be a “price to pay” given the makeup of the former President’s legal team. Though it becomes increasingly unlikely as the clock ticks, it’s important to consider that Trump’s legal team can change at any time — the client is known to shake things up, as he did when he reported to Fulton County Jail in Georgia, and also in his federal classified documents case in Florida.
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