By Andrea Widburg
American Thinker
August 19, 2022
Leftists seem pleased that no lawyers will represent Trump. This is a terrible thing that, as much as anything else, represents the downfall of America under the left's aegis. The aggressive leftist purge of conservative or just brave attorneys is destroying one of America's greatest institutions: Every person's right to have an attorney at his side.
In 1770, Redcoats fired on a crowd that had surrounded them, taunting them and pelting them with dangerous projectiles. Five colonists died. The British soldiers claimed self-defense, but the patriots in Boston called it murder. We remember it as the Boston Massacre.
What too few Americans know is that the soldiers, despite a trial in hostile territory, got a stellar defense. Their attorney was John Adams. He knew that representing the soldiers was a risk that could destroy his law practice and impoverish his family, but he also understood something very important about the law in a free country: No one should have to stand alone against the awesome majesty of the state, which has the power of the police, the prosecution, the judge, and the executioner.
Thanks to Adams's principled defense, all the soldiers were acquitted of murder. His closing argument included a sentence that should be carved above the entrance to every courthouse and media outlet: "Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence."
These principles were incorporated into the Sixth Amendment which states, in relevant part that "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right...to have the assistance of counsel for his defense."
Except, it seems, if the accused is Donald Trump. A right extended even to British soldiers accused of murder in the lead-up to the American Revolution is denied to a former president of the United States. The WaPo wrote about Trump's troubles:
Former president Donald Trump and close aides have spent the eight days since the FBI searched his Florida home rushing to assemble a team of respected defense lawyers. But the answer they keep hearing is "no."[snip]
"Everyone is saying no," said a prominent Republican lawyer, who like some others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential conversations.
The article blames Trump for a history of being a difficult client who has a "reputation for stiffing vendors and ignoring advice."
Well, maybe. But maybe Trump's troubles have to do with what's happening to anyone who works for him or embraces his cause. The DOJ has aggressively gone after Trump's lawyers (Rudy Giuliani, Eric Herschmann, Pat Cippolini, Igor Fruman, John Eastman, etc.), as well as anyone close to those lawyers (e.g., Victoria Toensing). They've also gone after Steve Bannon's lawyer, Bob Costello.