Washington Those who worked for Donald Trump in the first administration are giving advise about a must-have item for visitors to Washington as Republicans prepare for new positions in the second Trump administration.
Most people hope they will never use it, and it’s neither a fashionable apartment nor an article of clothes.
Five former senior administration officials and longtime Washington advisers said that incoming administration staffers are being cautioned to consider the risk of an expensive legal defense and to think about buying a type of legal insurance that would cover them if necessary. Many now consider this protection to be a necessary part of doing business after former Trump aides were hauled before grand juries and congressional committees over the previous eight years.
According to two people familiar with the cautions, Trump’s transition team has warned certain new government employees about the importance of evaluating and purchasing professional liability insurance. Requests for comment were not answered by the transition.
Former aides claimed to have recognized this requirement during Trump’s initial impeachment. According to a former administration official, everyone began to grasp it. This person went without insurance and came out of it unharmed, but they said they wouldn’t be so careless if they went back.
According to a former White House official who was not protected by insurance during the previous administration but has subsequently acquired it, you need legal assistance if you’re dealing with people who have the power of the government at their disposal. When you don’t have somebody to inform you what you can do or what situations you might be facing, it can be really frightening.
Another former Trump White House staffer stated that it is approaching the point of essential necessity. If you have any assets to safeguard, such as your home, education funds, etc., it would be irresponsible.
Better prepared
Insiders in Washington have long warned incoming government officials about the legal risks they may encounter while performing their duties.
Robert Kelner, the head of the congressional investigations practice at the law firm Covington & Burling, advised any client thinking about accepting a political appointment in a new administration, whether Republican or Democrat, to be prepared for the possibility of being drawn into an investigation and to carefully consider whether they are willing to take that risk. It has simply become so commonplace that it is practically taken for granted, and for political appointments, it may be extremely costly, time-consuming, and distracting.
Many people had to learn this lesson the hard way. Current and former officials rejected calls to testify before Congress during special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, the Trump-Ukraine impeachment inquiry, and the investigation into the Jan. 6 attack. During Trump’s first term, White House aides stated they would not cooperate with Democratic probes.
Roger Stone and Steve Bannon, two former Trump aides, were sentenced to prison for their refusal to assist with congressional investigations.
Because there are no regulations, I frequently compare congressional investigations to the wild, wild West, Kelner added. It all comes down to who can draw the fastest, who is more resilient, and who is smarter. Thus, there is a great deal of posturing, maneuvering, and scheming, but no legislation or regulation of the procedure.
Some people in Washington believe that assisting to cover government employees’ legal costs presents a business opportunity. More than ten years ago, Anthony Vergnetti quit his legal practice to start an insurance company that shields government employees from potential lawsuits. “The cost of a policy can range from $250 to $400 and often extends for a number of months after a person leaves their government job,” Vergnetti stated in a 2023 interview with the FEDTalk podcast. He stated some agencies assist in covering a portion of the expenses. NBC News declined to interview Vergnetti.
Brace for the worst
Trump had only been in office for five months when, in May 2017, advisers began to prepare for possible congressional investigations. Former White House director of message strategy Cliff Sims stated in his memoir of his 500 days in the Trump White House that a leaked story erroneously claimed that he and another colleague would be leading a Russia War Room and immediately linked them to a political live wire.
In Team of Vipers: My 500 Extraordinary Days in the Trump White House, Sims wrote, “We were furious.” It wasn’t true, to start. More worrisome, however, was the potential for legal bills that may easily exceed a year’s pay in the White House if one was associated with anything related to Russia.
As Trump starts implementing the anticipated immigration crackdown and a number of executive measures, it is hoped that this time around, aides will enter with some cover.
According to a former top Trump White House official, Trump’s staff members bore the weight of any actions that might face legal scrutiny in the future, in contrast to the president, whose fundamental presidential rights are safeguarded.
According to the former top official, you are accountable if you follow Trump’s illegal orders out of allegiance to him. You’re not protected; he is. He is protected, but you could end up with a major legal issue.
Some of Trump’s associates who were called before the Jan. 6 committee and grand juries received legal assistance from Trump using a political account, but not all of them received it. At least one recipient didn’t think it helped, even when it did.
Cassidy Hutchinson, the former White House adviser, appeared before the committee on January 6th accompanied by a lawyer who had been compensated by Trump’s supporters. After finding her own lawyer, she went back to the committee to provide further details, claiming that the original lawyer was providing her poor advice. Hutchinson stated in her book of her fear of not being able to afford her own attorney, which included going to the home of her biological father, whom she was estranged from, to plead with him for assistance in hiring a lawyer, as well as an offer from an aunt and uncle to mortgage their home in order to cover the costs.
Other staff members who were looking for representation that wouldn’t leave them with a mound of legal debt were forced to face the prospect of paying expensive legal bills as a result of the investigations into Trump. After Trump left office, investigations into his activities persisted, prompting White House alumni to establish a nonprofit to assist in funding some co-defendants’ legal defense.
The first former White House official clarified that these are things that people who have been in the Washington area are aware of in order to obtain liability insurance. That wasn’t necessarily explained to everyone the last time, but we eventually figured it out in a challenging manner.
The counsel that this individual is giving forth today? Be ready for anything. You never know.
Insurance is nondiscretionary if you have any degree of exposure to possible subpoenas, according to a former Republican official who worked for the party. You must purchase insurance. It’s not one of these situations where I’m going to throw the dice. “You insure yourself,” the former official stated. You may even incorporate it into your existing auto or home insurance with some insurers.
“That can cause some harm to your bank account for most people,” stated the former first White House official.
The dynamic creates perverse incentives among Republican lawyers at a time when incoming political appointees are more vulnerable than ever, according to Mike Howell, a lawyer who spoke before the Jan. 6 committee pro bono on behalf of a well-known client.
According to Howell, the right lawyers are there to profit greatly from these disputes because they view them as a business and a clientele. Therefore, there is no one to defend young people when they are the targets of these law enforcement actions.
Not a new phenomenon
Political probes are not a novel threat. The Benghazi report, in which Congress exercised its authority, the investigation into whether George W. Bush’s Justice Department had directed the firing of U.S. attorneys, and the Bill Clinton impeachment investigation were among them. The Iran-Contra scandal occurred during Ronald Reagan’s presidency.
The second former White House official stated, “The Defense Department guys like to call it low-intensity conflict.” This low-level conflict never stops. The only question is, can they figure out some way to damage you personally, not just as an official of the government?
However, new political staffers from both parties, particularly those who are new to the government, have not always considered purchasing insurance. The idea is that an administration official might safely rely on the government’s counsel if they were called in for questioning about a work-related issue.
However, worries have not been allayed by that pledge. One former Obama White House official recalled how friends at the State Department began searching for cover as congressional Republicans promised a drumbeat of investigations into the assault that killed Americans at the U.S. Mission in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012.
And Kelner said he does not recall a situation where he represented someone in government and his firm s fees were paid by an insurance policy suggesting these were not likely geared toward the rates of Big Law.
The person may instead find themselves with an attorney selected by their provider and not one of the handful of white shoe partners with experience before the most challenging government investigations, meaning some insurance may not offer the kind of coverage that some come to expect. The implication is that the possible reputational damage increases with the intensity of the investigation.
Kelner said Clinton s presidency marked a turning point as partisan, politicized investigations ramped up with no sign of slowing. It never really stopped after that, he added.