The former president reportedly ignores the counsel of his lawyers in favor of taking advice from Judicial Watch’s president
Donald Trump can’t stop taking advice from Judicial Watch President (and definitely not a lawyer) Tom Fitton — and it’s driving his attorneys crazy. According to a report from The Washington Post, who spoke to seven Trump advisors familiar with the behind-the-scenes events of Trump’s indictment by the Justice Department, the former president repeatedly ignored the counsel of his lawyers in favor of Fitton’s advice.
According to the report, lawyers for the former president pleaded with him to cooperate with investigators looking to recover the hundreds of classified documents Trump took with him after leaving the White House. Sources told the Post that Fitton’s name was often invoked by Trump in his explanations as to why he was choosing to ignore the legal advice he pays millions of dollars for.
Multiple advisors to the former president told the Post that they believe Trump’s insistence that he could keep the documents without repercussion, and his invocation of the “Clinton Socks” case as justification, are a direct result of Fitton’s advice.
On Tuesday, Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 federal criminal counts brought by the DOJ as a result of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the former president’s hoarding of classified documents. The charges include violations of the Espionage Act, conspiracy to obstruct justice, corruptly concealing a record or document, and concealing a document in a federal investigation.
Trump has remained defiant in the face of his second arrest this year and vowed revenge against President Joe Biden and the prosecutors overseeing his case during a speech following his arraignment.
That revenge plot has been aided by Fitton. As reported by Rolling Stone in May, Fitton claims that the DOJ is “stonewalling” him and his organization’s efforts to publicly unmask the names of employees working under Smith. The department has denied Fitton’s request on grounds that it is an “unwarranted invasion of personal privacy” that would also “interfere with enforcement proceedings.”
While Fitton’s involvement with the former president is causing headaches for the people trying to keep him out of jail, he is but one block in the teetering Jenga tower that is Trump’s legal team. Sources with knowledge of the matter previously told Rolling Stone that Trump’s legal roster was riddled with internal squabbling and underhanded attempts for dominance over various legal cases. With two of Trump’s attorneys having resigned hours before the former president was indictment was unsealed, Fitton’s free — if unfounded — legal advice might be the best he can get.
