Less than a month after he was hired and given a $3 million retainer to lead the defense for failed, one-term former president Donald Trump in the Mar-a-Lago stolen classified documents case, attorney Christopher Kise has been “sidelined” according to CNN.
Kise is expected to remain on Trump’s legal team but is not leading the work related to the federal government’s investigation into how the former President handled 11,000 documents seized from his Florida home in August following a lengthy effort by the government to retrieve them. The reason for the shift in Kise’s role remains unclear and he may instead focus his efforts on the other investigations Trump is facing, which range from his business practices to the January 6 insurrection.
Unlike many of Trump’s other so-called lawyers, Kise is actually a respect trial attorney who once served as solicitor general for the state of Florida and is considered to be an excellent white-collar attorney.
Before he came aboard, other lawyers on Trump’s team were perceived in legal circles to have made serious missteps in the investigation, such as not fully recognizing the legal risk of the documents investigation before the search of Mar-a-Lago, telling investigators all classified records had been turned over, missing opportunities to argue for executive privilege and having an appeals court deliver a drubbing against Trump’s bid to block classified documents in the investigation.
What exactly happened? That’s hard to say since neither Trump or Kise would agree to speak on the record regarding Kise’s sudden demotion from lead counsel to bystander, but knowing the ex-president, it probably involves Kise suggesting a legal strategy and being rebuffed by the Donald, who doesn’t know the first thing about the law other than he doesn’t think it applies to him or his family.
Among the other attorneys Trump has employed for the Mar-a-Lago case are former One America New Network host Christina Bobb, Florida insurance lawyer Lindsey Halligan, and Alina Habba, who’s main qualification seems to be that she was attorney for a parking garage company.
But hey, by all means, put the real lawyer on the bench, Donnie.
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