Here's that Seth Abramson piece linked on the last thread: mobile.twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/888803428163620866
Seth Abramson @ SethAbramson
(THREAD) In easily missed BREAKING NEWS yesterday, CBS reported that Marc Kasowitz is "out" as Trump's attorney. It matters, and here's why.
(1) Kasowitz being out as Trump's lawyer comes on the heels of Trump's top legal spokesman, Mark Corallo, resigning.
(2) Corallo resigned because he feared he was being lied to, he couldn't stand the in-fighting and he opposed the new anti-Mueller strategy.
(3) Kasowitz leaving underscores one of those complaints: there are clearly factions in Trump's legal team, and it's making it ineffective.
(4) Broadly speaking, those resigning or pulling back from the team are PR-expert attorneys, and the people staying on are criminal lawyers.
(5) This suggests that some of the in-fighting may have to do with the question of whether this is a "PR situation" or a criminal defense.
(6) The criminal attorneys on the team are winning because they're right—this is a criminal investigation and Trump is a criminal suspect.
(7) Corallo's third complaint, about Mueller, speaks for itself: he believes—and is right—that it's a losing strategy and an unethical one.
(8) But I want to focus here on Corallo's claim he was being "lied to." He didn't mean by Trump—that would breach attorney-client privilege.
(9) So Corallo was telling media that he was either being lied to by the rest of the legal team or by non-client witnesses close to Trump.
(10) Thing is—and I say this as a longtime criminal attorney—you never quit a case because the witnesses are lying. Why? Well—they often do.
(11) Any attorney would read Corallo's extraordinary statement—therefore—as a claim that other members of the legal team are lying to him.
(12) Of the Trump attorneys veteran enough to have info they might withhold from Corallo or mislead him about, Kasowitz is a prime suspect.
(13) This suggests the possibility Kasowitz is not "out" because of a lack of criminal litigation experience or his recent bizarre behavior.
(14) Incidentally, the recent bizarre behavior I refer to are allegations that Kasowitz threatened a man over email.
(15) But no—much more likely is that Kasowitz's exit has to do with information about @ PreetBharara that he accidentally dropped publicly.
(16) Recall that @ PreetBharara had been personally assured by the President that he wouldn't be fired. Then Trump suddenly changed his mind.
(17) What Kasowitz has done is make the extraordinary boast that he was the one who changed the President's mind about firing @ PreetBharara.
(18) You can read about this breach of attorney-client privilege and possible—by Trump—Obstruction of Justice here:
Trump’s Personal Lawyer Boasted That He Got Preet Bharara Fired
propublica.org
(19) Keep in mind presidents never—ever—fire all U.S. attorneys at once and without warning because it dramatically destabilizes government.
(20) Nor is there any indication that Mr. Trump planned to do this prior to Kasowitz telling him that @ PreetBharara was "going to get him."