(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
You’ve read elsewhere about the legal problems that Donald Trump will face now that he’s left the White House. But I haven’t seen anyone talk about this: Plaintiff’s-side trial lawyers are a huge piece of the Democratic base. What does that mean for Trump?
We all know about Trump’s cash-flow problems. The New York Times has reported that he has hundreds of millions of dollars of debt coming due in the next few years. Much of that debt is secured by personal guarantees. And the properties that he could sell to service that debt have been hammered by the pandemic, probably leaving him in a tough cash-flow spot.
We all know about Trump’s other business problems. Being abandoned by the PGA and the folks who run the carousel in Central Park is high profile, but other stuff matters more. He’s lost his banks. He’s lost a big real estate leasing agent and at least one real estate broker. He’s lost at least two law firms.
It’s hard to salvage a business when everyone around you is quitting simultaneously. We’ll see how Trump does.
We all know that Trump faces possible criminal problems. On the available evidence, Trump chose not to pardon himself. (My criminal-procedure-professor buddy tells me that Trump could have pardoned himself secretly. Even Joe Biden would not now be aware of the pardon. If indicted on federal charges, Trump could pull the pardon out of his pocket and offer it as a defense. On that score, I know what you know: Nothing.) But Trump certainly remains an unindicted co-conspirator in the federal case about Stormy Daniels that put Michael Cohen behind bars. Trump faces whatever the Manhattan District Attorney, a state prosecutor, has in mind. Trump faces whatever state prosecutors are investigating over his phone call to election officials in Georgia. Trump faces whatever the Department of Justice unearths in the investigation of his speech that preceded the storming of the Capitol.
We all know that Trump faces civil litigation. Matters are pending for sexual misconduct, defamation, and a fraud purportedly committed on Trump’s niece, Mary Trump. Dominion Voting Systems sued Sidney Powell for allegedly having said untrue things about how Dominion’s machines performed during the 2020 election. Do you really think Trump will avoid a similar lawsuit? And clever lawyers will surely generate theories to pursue Trump for the storming of the Capitol. Remember: They didn’t get O.J. in the criminal case; they got him in a civil wrongful death case. They might not get Trump for sedition, but who do you think the survivors of the Capitol Police (and others) killed and injured in the attack will choose to sue? Maybe the prominent deep pocket, do you think?
We know all that.
Here’s the new twist that I’m adding today: Plaintiff’s-side trial lawyers skew Democratic. Trump is a prime target: He’s at least temporarily rich. He’s at least temporarily high profile. Suing Trump would attract an awful lot of attention for a trial lawyer. Actually winning a case against Trump would be worth even more.
Won’t the trial lawyers be salivating over Trump’s past, and shadowing Trump every step of the way into his future, to be sure that he gets sued for every appropriate claim (and maybe then some)?
That’s a lot of days in deposition, and that’s a lot of litigation risk.
As long as I’m adding new thoughts, I’ll add this one, too. Isn’t Congress duty-bound to conduct an investigation of the recent assault on the Capitol? As part of that investigation, aren’t those who arguably incited the assault necessary witnesses? Won’t we see Trump be put under oath as part of that investigation, or will some members of Congress decide that comprehensively investigating the assault on the Capitol poses too much political risk?
As criminal defense lawyers say: “You might beat the rap, but you can’t beat the ride.”
Even if Trump manages to beat the rap, he’s in for a long, terrifying ride.
Mark Herrmann spent 17 years as a partner at a leading international law firm and is now deputy general counsel at a large international company. He is the author of The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Practicing Law and Drug and Device Product Liability Litigation Strategy (affiliate links). You can reach him by email at inhouse@abovethelaw.com