Former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, White House communications director Hope Hicks and general counsel Donald McGahn have all hired lawyers to advise them during the investigation being conducted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, according to two reports.
Law 360 reported on Sunday that Priebus and McGahn have both hired William Burck, a white collar defense attorney with the firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan.
Politico reported on Friday that Hicks, who worked for Trump prior to his presidential bid, recently hired Robert Trout, a partner at Trout Cacheris & Janis.
Earlier in the week it was reported that Mueller is seeking interviews with at least six current and former White House officials regarding several matters related to his investigation into Russian meddling in the presidential campaign.
In addition to the trio named above, Mueller is said to be seeking interviews with former White House press secretary Sean Spicer, deputy general counsel James Burnham, and Josh Raffel, a spokesman for Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Mueller is reportedly hoping to quiz the six advisers as part of his inquiry into possible obstruction of justice on the part of Trump and the White House.
According to Law 360, Mueller wants to talk to McGahn about the May 9 firing of FBI Director James Comey. McGahn is considered a witness in the case rather than a target of the investigation.
Priebus, who was fired as chief of staff on July 28, is of interest to Mueller because of his possible knowledge about the now-infamous June 9, 2016, Trump Tower meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and a group of Russian lobbyists.
Hicks is also expected to be asked about what she knows of the Trump Tower meeting and the White House’s response to a New York Times report about the meeting in July.
The Daily Beast reported on Friday that the White House is considering organizing legal defense funds to help aides defray legal costs associated with Mueller’s investigation.
Burck served as deputy counsel to President George W. Bush and as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, Law 360 notes. He has represented former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell in a federal corruption case.
Trout, the lawyer for Hicks, is a former U.S. assistant attorney in Baltimore.