A Georgia prosecutor is investigating whether Donald Trump wanted to tamper with the 2020 election results there. The ex-president appears to be seriously worried because he has hired a star lawyer.
In the US state of Georgia, Donald Trump is under investigation for allegedly trying to manipulate the results of the 2020 presidential election in his favor. In his defense, the 76-year-old has now hired Drew Findling, a lawyer known by the hashtag #BillionDollarLawyer.
Findling has represented a number of celebrities including rap stars Cardi B., Gucci Mane and Migos, and comedian Katt Williams. His Instagram page is full of photos of him posing with his well-known clients. In his bio, he wrote the hashtag #BillionDollarLawyer, a label he “developed for years after becoming an indispensable behind-the-scenes figure in the Atlanta rap world,” as reported the New York Times wrote about the attorney in 2018.
Findling attacked Donald Trump on Twitter
It is astonishing that in Findling Trump has brought a man into his ranks who once publicly attacked him and whose personal views do not always coincide with those of the ex-president’s Republican party. The lawyer wrote two days after the US Supreme Court overturned the nation’s basic right to abortion in late June, on Instagramthat his firm is committed to “restoring women’s right to choose, destroyed by the Supreme Court.” Findling even offered to defend anyone charged under Georgia’s restrictive abortion law for free.
And in August 2018, after Trump tweeted insults to basketball superstar LeBron James’ intelligence, Findling tweeted the then-President of the United States “racist” and “fraudulent,” ending the comment with “POTUS, pathetic once again !”. Trump’s harsh comments in 2019 about five black and Hispanic men wrongly convicted of brutally raping a female jogger in Central Park as teenagers were “racist, cruel, sick, unforgivable and un-American,” the attorney called at the time.
in one Telephone interview with the “New York Times” Findling justified his decision to represent Trump by citing John Adams, later the second President of the United States, who took the unpopular position of defending British troops in court after the 1770 massacre of colonists in Boston by British soldiers. “I do not believe that we select our client or clients on the basis of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, political beliefs or the content of the crime,” the newspaper quoted him as saying. “We have our personal lives and personal politics, and I make no apologies for my personal politics.”
Of the Associated Press news agency (AP) Findling wrote in an email that he was a “passionate advocate against injustice” and would “defend Trump with great vigour.” “I may differ politically from many of my clients, but that doesn’t change my obligation to defend myself against unjust investigations,” said the 62-year-old. “In this case, the focus on President Trump in Fulton County, Georgia is clearly a flawed and politically motivated pursuit, and along with my firm and my fellow attorneys, I am determined to stand up against this injustice.”
Findling says he is part of a Georgia-based legal team now working for Trump, which also includes former prosecutor Jennifer Little and veteran criminal defense attorney Dwight L. Thomas. According to Little, the three were carefully selected on Trump’s behalf.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis began the Georgia investigation early last year. They target at least 17 people who could be prosecuted. Trump is not among them, but a special jury continues to review evidence and testimony, with several senior Trump advisers subpoenaed but yet to appear. Willis says he is considering a number of possible criminal charges, including racketeering and conspiracy, and is considering subpoenaing the former president himself.
Experts see a high risk of impeachment for Trump
According to the prosecutor, she is particularly interested in a January 2021 phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. During that conversation, Trump hinted that Raffensperger could “find” the votes it would take to reverse his narrow loss to Joe Biden in that state. “All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes,” Trump said during the recorded call. “Because we won the state.”
The hiring of this “highly priced and powerful legal talent” demonstrates the exceptional national importance of the investigation and likely impeachment against the former president and possibly others around him,” Norman Eisen told the New York Times. Eisen had during the first impeachment trial served as special adviser to the House Judiciary Committee against Trump and co-authored a Brookings Institute analysis of the Georgia case, in which the Washington think tank found Trump was at significant risk of multiple criminal charges.
Esther Panitch, a veteran Atlanta criminal defense attorney and Democratic nominee for a seat in the House of Representatives, has known Findling for years and thinks he is “brilliant,” the newspaper reports. Nevertheless, he needs a client who will listen to him. “You can’t blame Drew when his client refuses to take his advice,” Panitch said. “And Trump is the kind of client that lawyers fear because you can’t control him.”
Sources: “New York Times” I, “New York Times” II, Drew Findling on Instagram