Legal teams involved in the Special Counsel investigation (2017–2019)


The 2017-2019 Special Counsel investigation involves multiple legal teams, specifically the attorneys, supervised by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, taking part in the investigation; the team representing President Trump in his personal capacity; and the team representing the White House as an institution separate from the President.
According to CNN, as of August 2018, the Mueller team includes 15 attorneys, led by Mueller. The additional supporting staff brings the number over 30.
Emmet Flood heads a team representing the White House, and Trump personally is represented by Jay Sekulow, Andrew Ekonomou, Rudy Giuliani, the Raskin & Raskin law firm, and Joanna Hendon. Former members of this team include white-collar crimes expert John Dowd and Ty Cobb representing the office of the presidency.
Mueller's legal team has been consistently attacked as biased against President Trump, who has repeatedly referred to it as "The 13 Angry Democrats". Mueller, though, is a registered Republican, and choosing to hire or not hire career attorneys on the basis of political affiliation is contrary to both Justice Department policy and federal law.

Mueller and investigation team

Upon his appointment as special counsel, Mueller resigned his position at the Washington office of law firm WilmerHale, along with two colleagues, Aaron Zebley and James L. Quarles III. On 23 May 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice ethics experts announced they had declared Mueller ethically able to function as special counsel.
Politico proposed that the "ideal team" would likely have six to eight prosecutors, along with administrative assistants and experts in areas such as money laundering or interpreting tax returns. Mueller had hired 17 lawyers by February 2018, and had a total staff of over three dozen, including investigators and other non-attorneys by August 2017. He also has an active role in managing the inquiry.

Attorneys

Mueller has also added unidentified agents of the IRS Criminal Investigations Division to his team. The Daily Beast, referring to the CI division as one of the government's "most tight-knit, specialized, and secretive investigative entities," reported that Mueller had enjoyed working with CI agents when he was a government attorney.
Mueller's team is also working with the Attorney General of New York on its investigation into Manafort's financial transactions.

Former members

Though Trump and others have criticized the fact that many members of Mueller's team have had some affiliation with the Democratic Party, federal regulations prohibit Mueller from considering political affiliation in hiring decisions. Republican members of the House of Representatives have accused the investigation of being manned by personnel with an "anti-Trump" bias who "let Clinton off easy last year", in reference to the FBI's investigation of Hillary Clinton's email server, which also contradicts the stated reason for Trump's firing of James Comey.

Investigation expenses

As of December 2018, the total cost of the investigation has been approximately $25 million, while gaining approximately $48 million. More than half of the cost of the investigation was for personnel compensation and benefits. The gains were accrued primarily by uncovering unpaid taxes by targets in the investigation, seizing assets, and collecting fines. The attorneys have taken significant cuts in pay to work on the investigation, with their normal salaries "ranging from just under $1 million to about $4.1 million ". Their current salaries "range from $105,782 to $187,000".

Trump's legal team

Trump's lead attorney Rudy Giuliani disclosed on 13 September 2018 that Trump's and Manafort's legal teams have had a joint agreement through which they've exchanged confidential information "all during the investigation".
Members of President Trump's legal team include:

Representing the White House

In an article describing the "unique circumstance" of Rudy Giuliani's unpaid leave of absence from Greenberg Traurig while representing Trump, possibly because of "potential conflicts", Christine Simmons referred to how some other law firms may have turned down representing Trump in the Russia case due to "public relations headaches or business and recruitment concerns". Trump has called such views a "Fake News narrative", but, according to Ryan Lovelace of The National Law Journal, "many Washington defense attorneys aren't so sure".
A number of prominent lawyers and law firms are known to have declined offers to join Trump's legal team, including Robert S. Bennett of Hogan Lovells, Paul Clement and Mark Filip, both with Kirkland & Ellis, Robert Giuffra Jr. of Sullivan & Cromwell, Theodore B. Olson of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, and Brendan V. Sullivan Jr. of Williams & Connolly. Other firms with attorneys who have declined to represent Trump include Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, Steptoe & Johnson, and Winston & Strawn. Former U.S. Attorney Joseph diGenova and his wife Victoria Toensing were also briefly slated to join Trump's legal team, but withdrew their services from Trump in March 2018, citing conflicts of interest.

Others

  • Michael Cohen, Trump's former long-time personal attorney, who is fully cooperating with the Special Counsel and admitted to violating campaign finance laws, is represented by Lanny Davis.
  • James Comey, whose assertions regarding statements made by Trump are central to the investigation, has a legal team including former independent counsel Patrick Fitzgerald.
  • Paul Manafort, a key player in the allegations of improper contact between then-candidate Trump and the Russian government, is represented by Kevin Downing. Trump's and Manafort's legal teams have had a joint agreement through which they've exchanged confidential information "all during the investigation".