West Wing aides brace for big attorney bills

[DonViejo]

Longstanding conflict-of-interest restrictions limit White House employees from taking free or discounted legal advice, but aides who need lawyers have some options for getting help.

By DARREN SAMUELSOHN 05/20/2017 07:05 AM EDT

President Donald Trump has deep pockets to pay for personal lawyers to defend him from the evolving federal investigation into his campaign’s contacts with Russian officials. It’s a very different story for his staff.

White House aides bracing for subpoenas and grand jury summons have already begun making inquiries for legal help to navigate the unfamiliar terrain, according to lawyers who have been contacted, opening critical lines of communication in a bid to avoid serious harm to their reputations and careers, and perhaps even jail time.

“It can cost a lot of money,” said Peter Wehner, a former George W. Bush White House aide who was called in for a grand jury appearance in the investigation into the leak of CIA agent Valerie Plame’s identity. “Just for safety sake, even if you’ve done nothing wrong.”

Long-standing conflict of interest restrictions limit White House employees in many circumstances from accepting free or discounted attorney advice, and history is littered with examples of a president’s team buried under more than a hundred thousand dollars (George Stephanopoulos, under President Bill Clinton), if not millions (I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, under President George W. Bush), in legal fees.

Trump aides who can’t afford a premier $1,500-per-hour white-collar lawyer on their government salaries have options. They can file for public subsidies, lean on their homeowners’ insurance or tap lawyer friends for pro bono help. But even then, veterans of White House scandals stretching back to the Ronald Reagan era say that some of the staffers who get caught in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s crosshairs will want to start pinching pennies.

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http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/20/trump-administration-lawyers-fees-238631

[gibraltar72]

1. Call the

Lincoln lawyer!

[Bleacher Creature]

2. Hmmm. Someone seems to be missing. . .

I think his name rhymes with "no drama."

And I'm pretty sure that the Clintons reimbursed their staff. Not sure about Stephanopoulos, as he had a falling out with them, but by then he was cashing some pretty big paychecks.

In any event, I think the moral is "don't work for a corrupt Republican President."

[lpbk2713]

3. Who forced those idiots to join the Trump Circus?

They will get no sympathy from me.

[L. Coyote]

4. Who forced those idiots to join the Russian Circus?