Trump has had a lot of lawyers but still longs for his wartime consigliere
The language might have been meant to shock, but it was not really a surprise when former President Trump this week responded to his arraignment on federal criminal charges by vowing to return to office and "appoint a real special counsel to go after the most corrupt president in history, Joe Biden, and the whole Biden crime family."
It was also amazing — but in character — that Trump spent the afternoon prior to his arraignment interviewing prospective lawyers to represent him in a legal matter that has been bubbling to a boil for two years.
Throughout that time, of course, Trump has had a platoon of lawyers battling for him and his claim to ownership of national security files. Although their roster has seen some shuffling, they have been resisting subpoenas and filing motions in Washington, D.C., and in Florida since the National Archives first notified the ex-president he needed to comply with the law in 2021.
Yet with hours to go to court time, Trump was still looking for a top-drawer lawyer who had a federal practice in South Florida and was willing to take his case.
On display in these fraught moments of
