Legendary Washington attorney Bob Bennett says President Trump and his legal team have been making palpable errors. In short: Trump has been screwing himself and his legal team by giving Special Counsel Robert Mueller daily fresh blood.
“I don’t mean to equate Mr. Mueller with Count Dracula, but Count Dracula needs fresh blood everyday and Mr. Trump, President Trump, with his tweets and statements provides the medium with fresh blood every day,” Bennett said during a Thursday morning appearance on MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle‘s program.
There was more than a whiff of you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours. Bennett got a solid shoutout for his memoir, In the Ring: The trials of a Washington lawyer. Ruhle flashed a picture of his 2008 book and announced that it would make a great summer read.
She also pushed him to weigh in on Trump’s legal headaches.
“Mr. Mueller is nothing if not thorough,” Bennett said. “I think that all of the major issues that have been raised are going to be looked into in great detail by Bob Mueller, who I know.”
Bennett is among the Big Kahunas of Washington attorneys. The man who has been dubbed the closest thing Washington has to ABC Scandal‘s real live Olivia Pope, said Trump could be in real trouble. “The intent is what is critical here,” he said. “It’s very hard to prove an obstruction case. I certainly think there’s a possibility of it.”
He says Trump’s achilles heel is in his tax returns.
“That’s where I think the greatest threat to the president is,” he said.
Bennett, who was President Clinton‘s personal lawyer in the Paula Jones case and NYT‘s Judith Miller in the CIA leak investigation, knows only too well what it’s like to be the attorney for a president who is under investigation and facing a special prosecutor.
“Well, you know I had one advantage in representing Clinton,” Bennett said. “While he didn’t always agree with me, he didn’t undercut me when I made a public statement that he asked that I make. You know, it’s out of my sweet spot to talk about political ramifications. Except that I do believe the President and his legal team thus far have been making a lot of mistakes and are certainly giving the appearance that they are guilty of something.”
Bennett believes some of Trump’s actions have been absurd.
“Well, I think you don’t attack someone like Bob Mueller as soon as he is appointed,” he said. “He is the one who is going to be making the most important decision in President Trump’s political life and you should take advantage of that investigation to get it off the front page and say let’s wait to see what he finds. The strategy appears to be attack attack attack, and I can’t think of a worse strategy in a situation like this.”
Ruhle asked him, “Is he is own worst enemy?”
Bennett replied, “Yes, Stephanie, I think that’s right.”