1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,000 Speaker 1: President Trump has hired a high powered New York lawyer 2 00:00:03,040 --> 00:00:06,800 Speaker 1: as he faces multiple investigations related to his campaign in 3 00:00:06,920 --> 00:00:10,400 Speaker 1: Russian interference in the election. Mark Caswitz and his firm 4 00:00:10,440 --> 00:00:14,960 Speaker 1: have represented Trump in various cases ranging from divorce to bankruptcy, 5 00:00:15,280 --> 00:00:19,520 Speaker 1: allegations of sexual harassment and fraud for more than fifteen years. 6 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:23,439 Speaker 1: Joining us is Bob van Voris Bloomberg News legal reporter 7 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:27,680 Speaker 1: Bob Trump has been relying mostly on White House Council 8 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:31,319 Speaker 1: Don McGann, who served the Office of the Presidency, not 9 00:00:31,520 --> 00:00:37,199 Speaker 1: Trump himself. What made Trump decide to hire a personal attorney, Well, 10 00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:39,680 Speaker 1: presidents have done this in the past when they face 11 00:00:39,800 --> 00:00:46,800 Speaker 1: potential individual liability. UH, his White House Council has obligations 12 00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:52,040 Speaker 1: to UH doesn't have the same obligation to keep, you know, 13 00:00:52,080 --> 00:00:55,960 Speaker 1: to the client. He has obligation to the White House 14 00:00:56,000 --> 00:01:01,840 Speaker 1: and the presidency. But Trump believe that he potentially faced 15 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:04,959 Speaker 1: some individual liability and needs to have his own lawyer. 16 00:01:05,840 --> 00:01:10,320 Speaker 1: Casuwitz doesn't specialize in criminal law and has less Washington 17 00:01:10,440 --> 00:01:14,120 Speaker 1: experience than some other lawyers who are reportedly under consideration. 18 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:17,240 Speaker 1: So what does he bring to the table. He doesn't. 19 00:01:17,280 --> 00:01:19,720 Speaker 1: Casuwits is not on the shortlist of people that you 20 00:01:19,720 --> 00:01:24,120 Speaker 1: would expect to be involved in a Washington type of investigation. 21 00:01:24,520 --> 00:01:27,280 Speaker 1: What he does bring to the table is UH sort 22 00:01:27,280 --> 00:01:31,480 Speaker 1: of pitbull type intensity. He is somebody who can be 23 00:01:31,640 --> 00:01:34,760 Speaker 1: expected to be extremely loyal to Trump, UH, to be 24 00:01:34,959 --> 00:01:40,720 Speaker 1: very combative in battling his adversaries. And those are the 25 00:01:40,959 --> 00:01:43,600 Speaker 1: qualities that he's shown as a as a New York litigator. 26 00:01:44,760 --> 00:01:49,640 Speaker 1: And in the Bloomberg News article on this um Robert Bennett, 27 00:01:49,680 --> 00:01:52,960 Speaker 1: who defended from a President Bill Clinton from sexual harassment 28 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:56,040 Speaker 1: claims in a civil lawsuit brought by Paula Jones, said 29 00:01:56,360 --> 00:01:58,920 Speaker 1: Trump needs a lawyer with a lot of experience in 30 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:01,680 Speaker 1: dealing with what I like to called the Bermuda triangle, 31 00:02:02,120 --> 00:02:05,480 Speaker 1: the overlapping of Congress, the Special Council, and the media. 32 00:02:06,360 --> 00:02:12,880 Speaker 1: Can anyone control Trump and this ever expanding investigation, Well, 33 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:17,160 Speaker 1: it's an excellent question. I mean, we've seen that it 34 00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:22,200 Speaker 1: is hard for Trump's um aids and and certainly it 35 00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:24,200 Speaker 1: has been for his lawyers. It's hard to control what 36 00:02:24,320 --> 00:02:26,600 Speaker 1: he says. He's gonna He's going to say what he 37 00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:29,799 Speaker 1: wants to say, and that can make things difficult for 38 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:33,680 Speaker 1: a lawyer sometimes. Because Bennett also said that they need 39 00:02:33,720 --> 00:02:38,680 Speaker 1: to quiet the constant drumbeat of stories in the media 40 00:02:39,280 --> 00:02:43,000 Speaker 1: while dealing with a Special Council investigation. And I wonder 41 00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:47,040 Speaker 1: how that's going to happen when Trump returns home and 42 00:02:47,639 --> 00:02:50,960 Speaker 1: has a Twitter access again. It's a good question. I mean, 43 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:53,760 Speaker 1: unless the lawyer is sitting at his elbow while he's 44 00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:56,560 Speaker 1: tweeting in the middle of the night. Um, you know, 45 00:02:57,280 --> 00:03:01,360 Speaker 1: it's it's hard to know. And in President Trump is 46 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:04,320 Speaker 1: going to have to take advice if he, um, you know, 47 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:07,519 Speaker 1: wants the best results from this. I would think how 48 00:03:07,639 --> 00:03:11,919 Speaker 1: much will the Special Counsel, if you know, reach out 49 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:16,520 Speaker 1: to Trump's attorney. Will they be looking for documents? Um, 50 00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:19,080 Speaker 1: it seems like Trump there will be a fight if 51 00:03:19,080 --> 00:03:23,120 Speaker 1: they want him to testify. You would certainly expect him 52 00:03:23,160 --> 00:03:26,240 Speaker 1: to go through the attorney for for any of those 53 00:03:26,240 --> 00:03:30,320 Speaker 1: sort of requests. And you would expect caswits to be, 54 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:33,200 Speaker 1: you know, in close contact with Don McGann and the 55 00:03:33,200 --> 00:03:38,160 Speaker 1: White House and the White House legal staff. And as 56 00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:40,600 Speaker 1: far as some of the other investigate can you show 57 00:03:40,680 --> 00:03:43,800 Speaker 1: some of the other investigations that are going on in 58 00:03:43,840 --> 00:03:48,760 Speaker 1: addition to the Special Council investigation, which seems to be 59 00:03:49,160 --> 00:03:53,640 Speaker 1: the most focused well, that's certainly the I think the 60 00:03:53,680 --> 00:03:57,680 Speaker 1: central concern here. Um, there will be uh you know, 61 00:03:57,720 --> 00:04:02,240 Speaker 1: sort of related concerns about at least the issue has 62 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:07,240 Speaker 1: been raised whether the firing of the former FBI director 63 00:04:08,760 --> 00:04:14,000 Speaker 1: constituted obstruction or justice. Um, so there's certainly related questions. 64 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:20,120 Speaker 1: But the investigation of the potential Russian contacts, I think 65 00:04:20,640 --> 00:04:24,240 Speaker 1: is going to be the meat of the representation here. 66 00:04:25,080 --> 00:04:30,560 Speaker 1: And I've I understand I've read that he makes an 67 00:04:30,600 --> 00:04:34,200 Speaker 1: hour considering what other lawyers make. I mean, is that 68 00:04:34,680 --> 00:04:37,840 Speaker 1: part of the course for your high uh you know, 69 00:04:38,440 --> 00:04:41,480 Speaker 1: high fighting lawyer. That's kind of at the top end. 70 00:04:41,560 --> 00:04:50,080 Speaker 1: That's that shows somebody who is has very wealthy clients corporations, individuals, 71 00:04:50,480 --> 00:04:55,080 Speaker 1: and uh, somebody who can be expected to deliver um, 72 00:04:55,120 --> 00:04:58,000 Speaker 1: you know, good results for that money. And I imagine 73 00:04:58,040 --> 00:05:01,560 Speaker 1: that part of this might be he knows Casuits for 74 00:05:01,600 --> 00:05:04,640 Speaker 1: so long, similar to a lot of the other people 75 00:05:04,680 --> 00:05:09,039 Speaker 1: that he's chosen. That's right. We've seen President Trump choose aids, 76 00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:12,080 Speaker 1: choose among people he has known for a long time, 77 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:15,560 Speaker 1: people he trust. He seems to put a premium on 78 00:05:15,600 --> 00:05:18,400 Speaker 1: the ability to trust people and casuwits to somebody that 79 00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:21,960 Speaker 1: he's got a kind of history with Well, this will 80 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:25,320 Speaker 1: be an interesting thing to watch. I must say, and 81 00:05:25,360 --> 00:05:28,240 Speaker 1: thank you so much. That's Bob Van Voris. He's a 82 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:30,839 Speaker 1: Bloomberg News legal reporter, and you can read more about 83 00:05:30,880 --> 00:05:34,000 Speaker 1: this story on the Bloomberg terminal or by going to 84 00:05:34,120 --> 00:05:37,840 Speaker 1: Bloomberg dot com. Coming up on Bloomberg Law, we're going 85 00:05:37,880 --> 00:05:42,440 Speaker 1: to be talking about Attorney General Jeff's sessions. He's against 86 00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:47,720 Speaker 1: consent decrees, but do federal consent decrees help reduce police misconduct? 87 00:05:48,080 --> 00:05:50,960 Speaker 1: There's a new study out that points in that direction, 88 00:05:51,400 --> 00:05:53,919 Speaker 1: but there are a lot of holes in that study, 89 00:05:54,120 --> 00:05:56,920 Speaker 1: and we're going to be talking more about consent decrees