A former member of ex-president Donald Trump’s legal team appears ready to cooperate with the Justice Department’s investigation of classified documents that were improperly removed from the White House and taken to a Florida resort.
According to Joyce Vance, who worked as a U.S. Attorney in the Obama administration, comments made by Timothy Parlatore suggest a “turf war” is taking place among the failed former president’s legal team, and that could be big trouble for Trump.
“It’s almost as though there’s a turf war going on here among the lawyers,” Vance explained. “You know, often, when you see a lawyer leave a legal team that might signify that there’s a plea deal in the works or that there’s some legal reason behind the change. Here, it looks like a pure turf battle. But when Paraltore goes out and reveals this sort of information, it’s almost as though he’s pointing a finger at Boris Epshteyn and including him in the group of people involved in obstructing justice in this situation.”
“We don’t usually see lawyers come out and make statements like this after they leave a legal team,” she added. “You know, it’s CYA, it’s maybe waving a red flag at the Justice Department and saying he would like to come back and testify in a grand jury. I think that would make it the third time for him.”
Indeed, the New York Times reported over the weekend that there is major infighting on Trump’s legal team:
Parlatore described how … (Attorney Boris) Epshteyn had hindered him and other lawyers from getting information to Mr. Trump, leaving the former president’s legal team at a disadvantage in dealing with the Justice Department, which is scrutinizing Mr. Trump’s handling of classified documents after leaving office and his efforts to remain in office after losing the 2020 election.
Vance also explained that Trump’s attorneys aren’t about to go to jail just to protect him, no matter what promises the twice-impeached former president makes.
“You know, Trump’s lawyers don’t seem to believe that when people say ‘everything Trump touches dies,’ that it includes the lawyers,” she remarked. “But clearly, it does. Because they’ve put themselves at risk in a number of different ways.
“And so, we see lawyers leave and have to worry about whether they’re next. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a situation where so many lawyers, Boris Epshteyn, John Eastman, are all invoked as part of possible criminal activity.”
If Trump thought things couldn’t possibly get worse, they most certainly will if one of his attorneys becomes a cooperating witness for the DOJ. Such a development would all but guarantee that the ex-president is headed to prison in the very near future.
