President’s legal team remains in disarray

In the latest sign of disarray in President Trump’s legal team, a lawyer who he said last week would come on board to help handle his response to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation will no longer be part of the effort.

The development came three days after John Dowd, who had been Trump’s top attorney handling the Russia inquiry, resigned amid strategy disputes with the president.

Trump is now left, at least temporarily, without a traditional criminal defence attorney as Mueller’s team appears to be entering a critical phase in its investigation into Moscow’s interference in the 2016 election and whether the president’s campaign cooperated with Russia in this effort.

Joseph diGenova, the lawyer Trump wanted to replace Dowd, has often stridently defended the president on Fox News Channel and cast the Mueller probe as a conspiracy against him. Trump enjoyed the TV appearances and wanted diGenova on his team even though he did not know him, officials say.

But in a statement on Sunday, a spokesman for Trump’s legal team said both diGenova and his wife, Victoria Toensing, who is also a lawyer, would not be working on the Russia probe because clients they were already representing in connection with the investigation posed conflicts of interest.

“The President is disappointed that conflicts prevent Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing from joining his Special Counsel legal team,” said Jay Sekulow, counsel to Trump. “However, those conflicts do not prevent them from assisting the President in other legal matters. The President looks forward to working with them.”

The unravelling of the president’s legal team has left his advisers concerned. People familiar with the situation said the president has been counselled by friends that he needs to find a new lawyer to quarterback his team and efforts are underway by people close to Trump to try to hire a new lawyer.