March 25 (UPI) — Attorneys Joe diGenova and and his wife Victoria Toensing won’t be joining President Donald Trump‘s legal team in the Russia investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller, current lawyer Jay Sekulow announced.
“The president is disappointed that conflicts prevent Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing from joining the president’s special counsel legal team,” Sekulow said in an announcement. “However, those conflicts do not prevent them from assisting the president in other legal matters. The president looks forward to working with them.”
Last Monday, Sekulow announced diGenova was being added to the legal team, saying in a statement that he had “full confidence that he will be a great asset in our representation of the President.”
DiGenova, a commentator on Fox News, has criticized the Russia investigation.
Toensing has represented Mark Corallo, a former spokesman for Trump’s legal team, including his meeting with investigators on Mueller’s team.
Last Tuesday, Theodore Olsen, a solicitor general under President George W. Bush, turned down an invitation to join the legal team.
On Sunday, Trump criticized reports that Trump has been having difficulty finding lawyers to join his team.
“Many lawyers and top law firms want to represent me in the Russia case,” Trump posted on Twitter. “Don’t believe the Fake News narrative that it is hard to find a lawyer who wants to take this on. Fame & fortune will NEVER be turned down by a lawyer, though some are conflicted.”
He said a new law firm, would “take months to get up to speed (if for no other reason than they can bill more), which is unfair to our great country.”
But Trump said he is “very happy with my existing legal team.”
On March 11, Trump also posted that he was happy with his legal team.
“On The Failing New York Times purposely wrote a false story stating that I am unhappy with my legal team on the Russia case and am going to add another lawyer to help out,” he wrote. “Wrong. I am VERY happy with my lawyers, John Dowd, Ty Cobb and Jay Sekulow. They are doing a great job.”
On Thursday, lead attorney John Dowd announced his resignation after disagreements the president, including whether Trump should be interviewed by Mueller.
