1
00:00:03,480 --> 00:00:07,560
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Bloomberg Law Podcast. I'm June Grosso. Every

2
00:00:07,640 --> 00:00:10,440
Speaker 1: day we bring you insight and analysis into the most

3
00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:13,399
Speaker 1: important legal news of the day. You can find more

4
00:00:13,480 --> 00:00:18,040
Speaker 1: episodes of the Bloomberg Law Podcast on Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud

5
00:00:18,320 --> 00:00:23,000
Speaker 1: and on Bloomberg dot com slash podcasts. President Trump's lead lawyer,

6
00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:25,840
Speaker 1: Rudy Giuliani, has made a habit of getting attention for

7
00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:30,640
Speaker 1: her sometimes absurd statements about the Special Counsel and his team.

8
00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:34,320
Speaker 1: A group of thirteen highly part of the Democrats that

9
00:00:34,400 --> 00:00:38,279
Speaker 1: make up the Muller team excluding him, are trying very

10
00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:41,839
Speaker 1: very hard to frame him, to get him in trouble

11
00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:45,120
Speaker 1: when he hasn't done anything wrong. But behind the scenes,

12
00:00:45,159 --> 00:00:48,560
Speaker 1: a lawyer named Jane Raskin is leading President Trump's legal

13
00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:51,960
Speaker 1: charge against the Muller probe. Joining me is Shannon Petty Peace,

14
00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:55,880
Speaker 1: Bloomberg News White House reporter. So Shannon Raskin was hired

15
00:00:55,880 --> 00:00:59,040
Speaker 1: by Trump in April. Why have we heard almost nothing

16
00:00:59,080 --> 00:01:03,120
Speaker 1: about her? Well, by nature, she's very low profile. She

17
00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:05,280
Speaker 1: is supposed to be the ones doing the in the

18
00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:09,360
Speaker 1: weeds lawyering, the behind the scenes work. Um, but you

19
00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:12,200
Speaker 1: know she's really playing a crucial role here arguably more

20
00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:15,440
Speaker 1: crucial than the role Giuliani is playing, even though he

21
00:01:15,560 --> 00:01:19,440
Speaker 1: is this public face of the legal team, because she

22
00:01:19,640 --> 00:01:23,720
Speaker 1: is the one who's responsible for these negotiations between Muller

23
00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:27,080
Speaker 1: and the Trump legal team. Uh. And really the fate

24
00:01:27,120 --> 00:01:29,280
Speaker 1: of whether or not Trump has to go and sit

25
00:01:29,319 --> 00:01:32,120
Speaker 1: for an interview with Mueller and to the extent of

26
00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:34,920
Speaker 1: the questioning during that interview, will be dependent on how

27
00:01:34,920 --> 00:01:38,240
Speaker 1: successful she is at that. So she was a prosecutor

28
00:01:38,280 --> 00:01:40,240
Speaker 1: early in her career. Tell us a little bit about

29
00:01:40,280 --> 00:01:44,360
Speaker 1: her legal background. So she's an unusual choice for someone

30
00:01:44,400 --> 00:01:48,279
Speaker 1: to be in this um high profile, well not high profile,

31
00:01:48,320 --> 00:01:51,000
Speaker 1: but this crucial a role for the president because she

32
00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:54,960
Speaker 1: is not one of these marquee name Washington lawyers who

33
00:01:55,040 --> 00:01:58,760
Speaker 1: have experience dealing with these big investigations and have represented

34
00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:01,040
Speaker 1: past presidents or worked in the White House in the past.

35
00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:05,600
Speaker 1: She got her start um doing organized crime cases and

36
00:02:05,760 --> 00:02:10,040
Speaker 1: um locking up mobsters in Boston. She then moved to

37
00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:13,400
Speaker 1: become a defense attorney. She started a practice in South Florida,

38
00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:16,079
Speaker 1: where she spent most of her career UM where she's

39
00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:19,240
Speaker 1: had a range of white collar criminals. She's had people

40
00:02:19,240 --> 00:02:22,680
Speaker 1: accused of medicare fraud. She represented um, an ice agent

41
00:02:22,960 --> 00:02:26,640
Speaker 1: who was accused of extorting millions of dollars from Colombian

42
00:02:26,720 --> 00:02:30,960
Speaker 1: companies and drug dealers. She represented the maintenance company for

43
00:02:31,080 --> 00:02:33,359
Speaker 1: Value Jet, which was this airline in the nineties that

44
00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:36,120
Speaker 1: crashed in the Everglades. So she's had a real wide

45
00:02:36,240 --> 00:02:40,119
Speaker 1: range of clients. Everyone who's worked with her, who knows

46
00:02:40,160 --> 00:02:42,680
Speaker 1: her say she's definitely up for this task. But she

47
00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:46,960
Speaker 1: is certainly outside of this club of Washington lawyers that

48
00:02:47,320 --> 00:02:50,160
Speaker 1: the President initially tried to hire but wasn't able to

49
00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:53,320
Speaker 1: get to join his team because, um, you know, he's

50
00:02:53,320 --> 00:02:55,919
Speaker 1: a difficult client and because a lot of them had

51
00:02:55,960 --> 00:02:58,280
Speaker 1: other conflicts and had already picked up other clients involved

52
00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:01,079
Speaker 1: in the investigation. So she has a small law practice

53
00:03:01,120 --> 00:03:04,480
Speaker 1: in Florida with her husband. Is her husband also taking

54
00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:07,400
Speaker 1: part or you know he playing hand, Yes, So they

55
00:03:07,400 --> 00:03:10,919
Speaker 1: are very much a team. Um. She has become really

56
00:03:10,919 --> 00:03:14,240
Speaker 1: the point person doing the day to day discussions with

57
00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:18,120
Speaker 1: Muller um. And actually she doesn't talk directly with Mueller.

58
00:03:18,200 --> 00:03:21,160
Speaker 1: She talks to one of Mullard's deputies, Jim Quarrels, and

59
00:03:21,240 --> 00:03:24,600
Speaker 1: her and Jim Quarrels worked at a Washington law firm

60
00:03:24,800 --> 00:03:27,680
Speaker 1: many many years ago together, so they have a history

61
00:03:27,720 --> 00:03:30,600
Speaker 1: with each other. But yes, her husband, Marty Raskin, is

62
00:03:30,639 --> 00:03:33,640
Speaker 1: also very much involved there. Everyone describes them as really

63
00:03:33,639 --> 00:03:37,200
Speaker 1: a team, a pair. They both do a lot of

64
00:03:37,240 --> 00:03:40,920
Speaker 1: research on the case, helping build the legal arguments and

65
00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:44,640
Speaker 1: um she and her husband are writing this counter report

66
00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:48,640
Speaker 1: that Trump's legal team plans to release once Mueller puts

67
00:03:48,640 --> 00:03:51,840
Speaker 1: out his findings. They'll put out their own sort of

68
00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:54,200
Speaker 1: version of events countering what they think is going to

69
00:03:54,280 --> 00:03:56,680
Speaker 1: be uh in that report Mueller puts out of you know,

70
00:03:56,720 --> 00:03:59,640
Speaker 1: which is expected to happen eventually at some point. Your article,

71
00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:02,960
Speaker 1: which is very interesting, talks about the strategy sessions. So

72
00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:06,480
Speaker 1: they're all in on the strategy sessions. So the big

73
00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:10,640
Speaker 1: broad legal strategy is really being shaped by Giuliani, who

74
00:04:10,720 --> 00:04:14,200
Speaker 1: has really his expertise in understanding the court of public opinion.

75
00:04:14,360 --> 00:04:17,000
Speaker 1: He was a high profile prosecutor, but one of the

76
00:04:17,040 --> 00:04:19,560
Speaker 1: things he always excelled at was understanding how to play

77
00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:23,080
Speaker 1: the play the public uh perception game of things. You

78
00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:26,000
Speaker 1: have j Seculo who is involved in the strategy from

79
00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:29,120
Speaker 1: the constitutional law point. He that's his real strong suit

80
00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:32,440
Speaker 1: is constitutional law, and this is certainly a constitutional case

81
00:04:32,520 --> 00:04:36,960
Speaker 1: because it involves presidential powers executive privilege, it could become

82
00:04:37,120 --> 00:04:40,200
Speaker 1: an issue of impeachment possibly. And then the Raskins who

83
00:04:40,360 --> 00:04:43,720
Speaker 1: deal with the relationship with the Justice Department, the day

84
00:04:43,720 --> 00:04:47,560
Speaker 1: to day work and how a case unfolds, the documents

85
00:04:47,600 --> 00:04:51,120
Speaker 1: and understanding not just the constitutional element, but what the

86
00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:53,520
Speaker 1: you know, the entire body of the law and how

87
00:04:53,560 --> 00:04:55,680
Speaker 1: it should be applied to this case. So the group

88
00:04:55,680 --> 00:04:58,600
Speaker 1: of them come together, Um, by all accounts, they've been

89
00:04:58,760 --> 00:05:01,920
Speaker 1: working quite well together. Um. They talked two or three

90
00:05:01,920 --> 00:05:04,760
Speaker 1: times a week. They meet in Washington once a week, um.

91
00:05:04,839 --> 00:05:07,280
Speaker 1: And and they're the ones who are as a group

92
00:05:07,279 --> 00:05:09,800
Speaker 1: setting the broader strategy. And of course they'll tell me

93
00:05:09,880 --> 00:05:12,000
Speaker 1: with the input of the President, who's also very much

94
00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:15,800
Speaker 1: involved because he's the client here. Of course, one very

95
00:05:15,839 --> 00:05:18,279
Speaker 1: interesting fact about them in your article is that you know,

96
00:05:18,320 --> 00:05:20,960
Speaker 1: so many partners in law firms have their associates do

97
00:05:21,200 --> 00:05:23,800
Speaker 1: the grunt work, but you write that the Raskans are

98
00:05:23,839 --> 00:05:27,680
Speaker 1: known for doing that work themselves. Absolutely, and that's the

99
00:05:27,720 --> 00:05:30,039
Speaker 1: sense in this case as well. Um, They're not the

100
00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:33,119
Speaker 1: ones standing at a copy machine or doing Alexis nexus search.

101
00:05:33,200 --> 00:05:38,400
Speaker 1: There are um other lower level associates are paralegals that

102
00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:41,000
Speaker 1: are working as part of this legal team. But a

103
00:05:41,080 --> 00:05:44,360
Speaker 1: lot it's not like they have five lawyers helping them

104
00:05:44,360 --> 00:05:47,120
Speaker 1: out on this. A lot of the um research and

105
00:05:47,160 --> 00:05:50,440
Speaker 1: a lot of the case building and arguments and document

106
00:05:50,440 --> 00:05:53,640
Speaker 1: review is being done by them themselves. And that's just

107
00:05:53,680 --> 00:05:55,400
Speaker 1: sort of part of how they're known. They're known as

108
00:05:55,960 --> 00:06:00,440
Speaker 1: hard working, studious, humble, low profile people. They do not

109
00:06:00,520 --> 00:06:03,479
Speaker 1: get involved in the South Florida social scene. They're not

110
00:06:03,560 --> 00:06:06,800
Speaker 1: self promotional there, put their nose to the grindstone, get

111
00:06:06,800 --> 00:06:09,479
Speaker 1: the work done type of lawyers by all accounts of

112
00:06:09,480 --> 00:06:11,800
Speaker 1: people I've talked to who have worked with them. Just

113
00:06:11,839 --> 00:06:14,760
Speaker 1: about thirty seconds here. But she also she knows some

114
00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:18,800
Speaker 1: of the prosecutors she's negotiating with well, right, including so

115
00:06:18,920 --> 00:06:22,120
Speaker 1: I mentioned Jim Corals, who's the deputy of Mueller's, who

116
00:06:22,160 --> 00:06:25,080
Speaker 1: she works with who. Uh, they worked at a Washington

117
00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:27,760
Speaker 1: law firm together, but her and Robert Muller were in

118
00:06:27,839 --> 00:06:31,400
Speaker 1: Boston at the same time early in their careers doing

119
00:06:31,560 --> 00:06:36,080
Speaker 1: organized crime cases. Uh, they knew each other professionally. They

120
00:06:36,120 --> 00:06:38,960
Speaker 1: definitely knew of each other's work. Um. Well, I wasn't

121
00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:41,719
Speaker 1: able to pick up on any personal relationship they have. Uh,

122
00:06:41,760 --> 00:06:43,280
Speaker 1: it was told to me by people who know both

123
00:06:43,320 --> 00:06:46,280
Speaker 1: of them that yes, there's a mutual respect between her

124
00:06:46,360 --> 00:06:49,320
Speaker 1: and Mueller, and of course that's something that the Trump

125
00:06:49,400 --> 00:06:53,760
Speaker 1: legal team is hoping could at least help them maintain relationship.

126
00:06:53,920 --> 00:06:56,320
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, Shannon, it's a great piece. That's Shannon

127
00:06:56,320 --> 00:06:59,559
Speaker 1: Petty Peace, Bloomberg News, White House Reporter. Thanks for listening

128
00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:02,520
Speaker 1: to the Blue burg Law podcast. You can subscribe and

129
00:07:02,600 --> 00:07:05,839
Speaker 1: listen to the show on Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud, and on

130
00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:10,640
Speaker 1: bloomberg dot com slash podcast. I'm June Brosso. This is

131
00:07:10,680 --> 00:07:11,280
Speaker 1: Bloomberg