The White House said Sunday that President Trump will not, as had been announced, be adding two new attorneys to the legal team handling the special counsel’s probe into Russia’s attempts to influence the 2016 election.
Joseph diGenova and his wife, Victoria Toensing, both Washington lawyers, had been expected since last week to join the legal team.
But Mr. Trump’s attorney Jay Sekulow said Sunday that neither could represent Mr. Trump in the special counsel investigation due to potential conflicts of interest.
“The president is disappointed that conflicts prevent Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing from joining the president’s special counsel legal team,” Mr. Sekulow said in a statement. “However, those conflicts do not prevent them from assisting the president in other legal matters. The president looks forward to working with them.”
In a statement later Sunday, Mr. diGenova and Ms. Toensing said they “thank the president for his confidence in us, and we look forward to working with him on other matters.”
Neither Mr. Sekulow nor the two married legal partners detailed what the conflicts were in their statements. But their firm has had other clients involved in the Mueller investigation, including former Trump campaign adviser Sam Clovis and Mark Corallo, an ex-spokesman to former Trump attorney Marc Kasowitz.
The White House and the diGenova-Toensing team also did not explain the other matters on which they’d be assisting the president.
The announcement followed by just a few hours a pushback from the president on Twitter against reports that some major law firms declined to take the president on as a client last year and are reluctant to do so now.
John Dowd, his lead attorney on the Russia probe, resigned last week, and Reuters news agency reported Mr. Trump has had a hard time finding legal counsel to represent him.
Mr. Dowd’s resignation came after Mr. Trump stepped up his attack on special counsel Robert Mueller. According to CNN, Mr. Dowd and Mr. Trump disagreed on the appropriate legal strategy to take in regards to Mr. Mueller’s quest.
Mr. Trump said Sunday he remains happy with his legal team representing him in Russia probe.
“Many lawyers and top law firms want to represent me in the Russia case 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,” Mr. Trump tweeted Sunday.
He continued, “Problem is that a new lawyer or law firm will take months to get up to speed (if for no other reason than they can bill more), which is unfair to our great country — and I am very happy with my existing team. Besides, there was NO COLLUSION with Russia, except by Crooked Hillary and the Dems!”
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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