Politics makes for the strangest of bedfellows and now a criminal defense lawyer known for both his show biz connections and his distaste for Donald Trump is going to defend Trump against charges of interfering with the 2020 election in Georgia. Trump also needs a “killer” lawyer to represent him against other adversaries and apparently this guy is it.

Rolling Stone described the “push to assemble yet another new legal team, both for his current legal woes and for any future ones coming from the FBI and Biden-era DOJ. Throughout the summer, Trump has been quizzing confidants on what they think of specific criminal defense lawyers, throwing out a number of names both big and obscure. In other words, as one Trump advisor describes it, the ex-president is conducting the “Apprentice: Avoid-Federal-Prison Edition.”

And who is the winner of this nationwide search for talent? Vivien Leigh? No, that was another talent search. No the winner this time is Drew Findling, who has represented an array of rap stars including Cardi B, Gucci Mane and Migos, and is known by the hashtag #BillionDollarLawyer. He’s also done criminal defense in Georgia, and the New York Times says “his hiring underscores the seriousness of the investigation — as well as the potential legal jeopardy for Mr. Trump.” I guess when you’re serious, you hire the Billion Dollar Lawyer. I wonder if he got his “billion” up front?

Mr. Findling brings decades of trial experience ranging from high-profile murder cases to local political corruption scandals. But in the past, he has been openly — indeed, scathingly — critical of the former president.

In one 2018 post on Twitter, after Mr. Trump criticized LeBron James, Mr. Findling referred to Mr. Trump as “the racist architect of fraudulent Trump University.” In 2017, after Mr. Trump fired the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, Preet Bharara, Mr. Findling said on Twitter that the firing was “a sign of FEAR that he would aggressively investigate the stench hovering over this POTUS.”

He has also called Mr. Trump’s history of harsh comments about the five Black and Latino men who as teenagers were wrongly convicted of the brutal rape of a jogger in Central Park “racist, cruel, sick, unforgivable, and un-American!”

In a phone interview on Thursday, Mr. Findling explained his decision to take on Mr. Trump by referring to John Adams, who took the unpopular position of representing British troops after the Boston Massacre.

A modern day John Adams defending Donald Trump against trying to overthrow the government by ignoring the results of the 2020 election and staying in power. Hoe kay.

And Findling reportedly will bring his unique perspective gained from working  “at the nexus of hip-hop and crime” to prove that Trump’s entreating Brad Raffensperger to “find” 11,780 votes” is a statement that must be understood in context.

“Somebody listens to a rap song that lasts for four minutes and 11 seconds and pulls one verse out and tries to conjure up some type of criminal case out of it,” said Mr. Findling, who said that in both the phone call and a rap song, context was crucial.

The conversation with Mr. Raffensperger, he added, amounted to an effort to “negotiate a resolution” to a civil legal matter.

I don’t know about hip hop but this sounds like hip deep bull$hit to me. He and Fani Willis have clashed before.

Mr. Findling has previously been sharply critical of a crackdown by Ms. Willis on rappers and those accused of being gang members; he represents YFN Lucci, an Atlanta rap artist who was indicted on murder and racketeering charges in Fulton County last year.

Mr. Findling also has extensive experience with political clients. In 2013, he helped win the acquittal of Victor Hill, the sheriff of Clayton County, Ga., who had been indicted on a host of corruption-related charges after an investigation by a special grand jury. Mr. Hill also retained Mr. Findling after he was federally indicted last year on numerous civil rights charges for the alleged mistreatment of detainees at the local jail. He has been suspended from his position pending a trial set for October.

This is going to be mega strange. I see that much right now.

And here’s Alan Dershowitz chiming in (from the Rolling Stone article.)

“There should have been a first-rate criminal lawyer months ago. The number 1 priority for something like this is to prevent an indictment, to engage in extensive preparation long before indictment, and to have a top-rate team in place so the Justice Department knows what they will face if they indict. You win something like this before trial, not at trial,” says celebrity attorney Alan Dershowitz, who was on Trump’s first impeachment defense team. “If Donald Trump does not have his top criminal defense lawyer and team on this and in place yesterday, he is doing this all wrong. If he doesn’t have his defense team organized now, it’s malpractice. However, I still think chances of an indictment are small, because someone like Merrick Garland is not going to do that unless it’s really, really a slam-dunk.”

Asked if he’d consider advising a Trump legal team in a situation like this, Dershowitz responded, “On the constitutional issues and legal strategy, I would give advice to a team like that, whether for a Democrat or a Republican.” He added that, as a veteran of a Trump legal team, he has not yet received any calls or outreach on this matter by anybody in the Trump orbit. Dershowitz said that if asked, the first person he would recommend that former President Trump try to hire is attorney Ronald Sullivan, who like Dershowitz has taught at Harvard Law.

Sullivan lost, Findling won. I can’t wait. I don’t know why The Jerry Springer Show just leapt to mind, but indeed it did.

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9 COMMENTS

  1. Maybe it’s just me but this case seems to pale next to what just occurred. Maybe garland won’t push on every crime even if the evidence is there, we will see. I bet he won’t let go of stealing nuclear secrets to be sold on the open market by an EX-PRESIDENT. If he gets convicted of SOMETHING that prevents him from holding office that’s a win.

  2. THIS lawyer I’m sure will demand his retainer up front and it will be a hefty one. It will cause Trump physical pain to part with the kind of money he had to shell out to get this guy. As for him taking the case, I can’t help but think back more decades than I care to admit. In the years before (at age 26) I left my hometown to become a Marine my best friend, who was a couple of years older than me was a lawyer. After getting his JD he went down to Gainsville and got himself a Master of Laws in Taxation – an area of law he truly loved. But he did other work too as it would take a while to build the kind of practice he wanted – helping family farmers like his dad keep farms in the family. (He had serious asthma problems and farming wasn’t in the cards for him) Barry was often scathing about his chosen profession, and what stands out is his once saying of lawyers “We’re societies’ whores.” Basically he was admitting that when the fee was good enough personal principles went out the window. So, that’s why Trump’s new legal attack dog took the case. He probably was highly recommended as Trump IS truly scared shitless. And when approached the lawyer likely quoted an outrageous, “there’s no fucking way he’ll shell out this kind of cash” fee for his retainer. And Trump said okay. Money talks, but like I said the amount that had to change hands here HAD to have freaked Trump the fuck out. But it’s an indication of how scared he is.

    “Context?” This lawyer might be good but he’s not defending a rapper this time. And opening the door to context will allow the government to bring in all manner of evidence they might not otherwise have been able to get admitted under the rules of evidence. So again, it’s a measure of how strong the case against Trump likely is.

    • No one made this guy take the case. He did it for the money and the fame, just as,Dershowitz joined the O.J. team. They are both shysters. Sure, tfg has a,right to an attorney,but I think lawyers,with any integrity would have turned him down. He will.have the fight of a lifetime on his hands, because the free fitted every I and crossed every t.
      Hope he got a huge retainer because he has just sold his so. He is no John Adams.

      • I could be wrong but from what I know about the guy he’s all about the money. A potential client has to be willing to shell out “bigly” just for a consultation. And if he takes someone on as a client there’s every indication he’s in it for the money and nothing else. Unlike Dershowitz he didn’t gain a measure of fame doing pro bono work, or taking on a sleazeball client over legitimate Constitutional (once upon a time at least) concerns. This particular lawyer is a hired gun, plain and simple which is probably how he came to Trump’s attention in the first place. Again, I could be wrong but I think Trump realizes at times he’s in deep shit and he needs a Roy Cohen but unlike when he was younger he’ll have to pay through the nose to get one. This guy is I think for Trump a PAID Roy Cohen. And the pay will be an amount that as I said will cause Trump physical pain.

  3. Findling, like the GQP, is selling his soul for money. F-k principles when there’s a fortune and lots of fame to be made. The billion dollar lawyer is probably demanding a hefty fee upfront but that’s not going to hurt TFG because isn’t the RNC still paying his legal fees?

  4. I would LOVE to hear the “context” in which “find 11,780 votes” could mean ANYTHING other than what a REASONABLE person would believe it to mean.
    I mean, yeah, with a hip-hop/rap record, taking one line out of a 4-minute track could easily have context issues. I mean, if you took the line “I wanna f*ck that baby” from a song without hearing the rest of the verse, one COULD imagine its being meant literally (as in raping an infant) but “baby” could (and probably, would) also mean a hot woman when put into context. (I seem to recall Luther Campbell faced a similar issue in his obscenity trial because of a misunderstanding of the use of “crib.” At the time, it was relatively new term used in the hip-hop/rap community to mean “home” but the white prosecution took it to literally mean a baby’s bed. And the context CLEARLY changes based on the word’s meaning.)
    But votes aren’t lyrics and I’d love to hear Findling’s trying to explain how “find 11,780 votes” means anything but “discover the location of nearly 12,000 ballots cast to help me win the state.”

  5. The lawyer better get paid UP FRONT! And plan on losing this case! I have been screaming at Garland to DO SOMETHING! DO ANYTHING! AND I THINK HE HAS BEEN BUSY doing something all along now! I owe Garland an apology and should have kept my thoughts quite! This case is air tight and tubby trumpy wont be able to wiggle out of the noose that Garland is tieing right now!
    ^5 to Merrit Garland! and……………………I APOLOGIZE!

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