NEW REPORT: Trump Lawyer Chris Kise Pushing For ‘Off-Ramp’ In Mar-a-Lago Probe – Rest Of Team Trump Attacking Him
L: Jeff Swensen/Getty Images R: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Former President Donald Trump‘s legal team is “in a battle” over whether to find an “off-ramp” in the Mar-a-Lago investigation — an approach that attorney Christopher Kise is pushing — or to continue an aggressive strategy that Trump favors.
Kise is the attorney who quit his job at a prestigious firm and got a $3 million payday to lead the defense team for the Mar-a-Lago Espionage Act investigation. CNN’s Kaitlan Collins reported that after only a few weeks, Kise has been “sidelined” from that case, but that “reason for the shift in Kise’s role remains unclear.”
Some have speculated that Kise may have stepped back because he isn’t willing to pursue the sorts of defenses that Trump favors. A new report from The Washington Post’s Rosalind Helderman, Josh Dawsey, Carol Leonnig, and Perry Stein appears consistent with that:
(J)ust a few weeks after Kise was brought aboard, he finds himself in a battle, trying to persuade Trump to go along with his legal strategy and fighting with some other advisers who have counseled a more aggressive posture. The dispute has raged for at least a week, Trump advisers say, with the former president listening as various lawyers make their best arguments.
A Wednesday night court filing from Trump’s team was combative, with defense lawyers questioning the Justice Department’s truthfulness and motives. Kise, whose name was listed alongside other lawyers’ in previous filings over the past four weeks, did not sign that one — an absence that underscored the division among the lawyers. He remains part of the team and will continue assisting Trump in dealing with some of his other legal problems, said the people familiar with the conversations, who like others interviewed for this article spoke on the condition of anonymity to reveal private talks. But on the Mar-a-Lago issue, he is likely to have a less public role.
Kise’s name has been absent from Team Trump’s filings since his “sidelining,” although he was referenced by the Department of Justice in their Friday night motion to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
