--- title: Donald Trump's Lawyer on Robert Mueller and Stormy Daniels description: As the investigation into Russian meddling and other legal issues move ahead, President Donald Trump is shaking up his legal team. canonical: https://time.com/5208957/donald-trump-lawyers-legal-team/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-03-21T15:44:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:50:16.890Z article:section: Politics og:title: Meet the Lawyers Advising Trump on Mueller and Stormy Daniels og:description: The president is considering shaking up his legal team. og:url: https://time.com/5208957/donald-trump-lawyers-legal-team/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta693a51bb84aa74d/6988d5f57cdbac740dd593a9/key-lawyers-advising-president-trump-mcgahn.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: key-lawyers-advising-president-trump-mcgahn og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Meet the Lawyers Advising Trump on Mueller and Stormy Daniels twitter:description: The president is considering shaking up his legal team. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta693a51bb84aa74d/6988d5f57cdbac740dd593a9/key-lawyers-advising-president-trump-mcgahn.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Meet the 7 Lawyers Advising Trump on Robert Mueller and Stormy Daniels by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/) and [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) Mar 21, 2018 3:44 PM UTC  Attorney Donald McGahn leaves the Four Seasons hotel in New York, June 9, 2016, after a GOP fundraiser. Attorney Donald McGahn leaves the Four Seasons hotel in New York, June 9, 2016, after a GOP fundraiser.Mary Altaffer—AP by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/) and [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) Mar 21, 2018 3:44 PM UTC President Donald Trump is shaking up his legal team, again. As negotiations continue with special counsel Robert Mueller on the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, the president has added a new lawyer and is considering making other changes. The newest addition to the legal team has garnered attention for burnishing Trump on cable TV. Former federal prosecutor Joseph diGenova previously argued on Fox News that the Russia investigation was part of a [“brazen plot”](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/19/us/politics/joseph-digenova-trump-lawyer.html) by FBI and Department of Justice staffers to frame Trump. Trump’s legal team also reached out in recent days to noted D.C. powerhouse Ted Olson, solicitor general under President George W. Bush, but [he declined](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-legal-team-seeks-to-add-gravitas-with-offer-to-star-gop-attorney-theodore-b-olson/2018/03/20/571f1e46-2c41-11e8-8ad6-fbc50284fce8%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.0f73502c30eb) within hours of the news becoming public. Trump is also reportedly in [discussions with Emmett Flood](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/10/us/politics/trump-mueller-flood.html), a veteran D.C. lawyer who worked with Bill Clinton during the impeachment. The news contradicts Trump’s tweet on the subject earlier this month, in which he declared that he was not seeking to change his legal representation. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/972829763067883523) The Russia probe is not the only matter on which Trump is getting legal advice. The president’s private lawyers are also currently working through separate lawsuits: They are [suing porn star Stormy Daniels](https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/19/politics/michael-cohen-stormy-daniels/index.html) for violating a hush agreement about her alleged affair with the president, while also [defending Trump in a defamation lawsuit](http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-zervos-trump-lawsuit-20180320-story.html) for calling former “Apprentice” contestant Summer Zervos a liar after she accused Trump of sexual assault. Former Playboy model Karen McDougal is [also suing the parent company of the _National Enquirer_](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/20/us/ex-playboy-model-sues-to-break-silence-on-trump.html), whose chief executive is friendly with Trump, seeking to be released from a legal agreement that bars her from speaking about an alleged affair with the president as well. Trump’s lawyers are not involved in that case. Here’s a look at the lawyers representing Trump in the various matters. ## **Don McGahn**  Attorney and United States Federal Election Commission member Don McGahn is seen in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York on Jan. 9, 2017\. (Albin Lohr-Jones—Zuma Press) Albin Lohr-Jones—Zuma Press) McGahn is the current [White House counsel,](http://time.com/4700311/donald-trump-white-house-counsel-steve-bannon/?iid=sr-link1) the top lawyer tasked with advising the president on legal issues about policies and legislation. But McGahn has been at the center of controversies over Trump’s challenged travel ban, executive orders and the scandal surrounding former national security adviser Michael Flynn’s tenure in the White House, and Trump at one point[ handed off](http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/23/trump-don-mcgahn-white-house-counsel-russia-239876) responsibility of Russia-related issues to his personal attorney. Before becoming White House counsel, McGahn was Trump’s lawyer on the campaign, and he previously served as a commissioner with the Federal Election Commission. McGahn [reportedly threatened to quit](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/25/us/politics/trump-mueller-special-counsel-russia.html) when Trump asked him in 2017 to fire Mueller, and the president backed down. **Read More:** [_Inside Trump’s Plan to Dramatically Reshape U.S. Courts_](http://time.com/5139118/inside-trumps-plan-to-dramatically-reshape-us-courts/) ## **Ty Cobb**  Corporate attorney Ty Cobb in the offices of his law firm, Hogan & Hartson, Jan. 16, 2004\. (The Denver Post) Jerry Cleveland—The Denver Post/Getty Images A former federal prosecutor and a white-collar defense lawyer at the law firm Hogan Lovells in Washington, D.C., Cobb was at one point in charge of overseeing the legal strategy and media response to investigations into the Trump campaign’s alleged collusion with Russia. Trump has [reportedly considered firing Cobb](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/19/us/politics/trump-lawyers-mueller-russia-investigation.html), who repeatedly said during 2017 that the Russia investigation would be finishing soon and encouraged the president to cooperate with Mueller. In September, Cobb was [overheard by a reporter](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/17/us/politics/trump-lawyers-white-house-russia-mcgahn-ty-cobb.html?mcubz=1) talking openly at a Washington restaurant about the investigation. ## John Dowd  John Dowd enters federal court in New York, U.S., on Thursday, May 5, 2011\. (Bloomberg) Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images A noted white collar defense attorney in Washington, Dowd joined Trump’s legal team in June. He argued in December that [a president cannot obstruct justice](https://www.axios.com/exclusive-trump-lawyer-claims-the-president-cannot-obstruct-justice-1513388369-032ba40d-55c3-42d6-bdf9-d6399ed7a2ce.html), a [controversial legal theory that many experts disagree with](http://time.com/5047562/donald-trump-president-obstruction-of-justice/). And in March, he told a reporter that he hopes Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will [shut down the Russia investigation](https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-lawyer-its-time-to-fire-robert-mueller?ref=home), a break from Cobb’s talk of cooperating with Mueller. The remark led to questions about whether the president’s legal strategy on the Russia investigation was moving to a more aggressive stance. ## **Michael Cohen**  Michael Cohen, an attorney for Donald Trump, arrives in Trump Tower in New York on Dec. 16, 2016\. (AP) Richard Drew—AP Cohen is a personal lawyer, spokesperson and close confidant of Trump’s. He’s been working for Trump for years, closely enough that he has [hired his own lawyer](http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/338139-trumps-personal-lawyer-hires-attorney-report) to help him with the Russia probe. He’s known as a particularly aggressive advocate on Trump’s behalf, Trump’s “pit bull or consigliere,” [as ABC puts it](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/russia-investigation-expands-include-donald-trumps-personal-attorney/story?id=47646601), for threatening legal action against critics, yelling at reporters and vigorously defending his boss on Twitter. ## **Jay Sekulow**  Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel American Center for Law and Justice, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Feb. 6, 2014\. (AP) Pablo Martinez Monsivais—AP Sekulow is on Trump’s personal legal team advising him on Russia issues, and one of the lawyers who often appears in television hits. On Sunday on ABC, Sekulow [said](http://time.com/4860286/trump-jr-russia-secret-service-vetting/) of Donald Trump Jr.’s Russian meeting, “Well, I wonder why the Secret Service, if this was nefarious, why the Secret Service allowed these people in.” The Secret Service responded and said it did not vet the meeting. Sekulow is Chief Counsel for the American Center for Law & Justice and hosts his own talk show, and before joining Trump’s team he had spent his legal career representing conservative groups. ## Joseph diGenova  Joseph diGenova discusses former president Bill Clinton's pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich on "Meet the Press" February 11, 2001\. (AP) Alex Wong—Getty Images Trump added Joseph diGenova, a Washington lawyer and former U.S. attorney, to his legal team in March. Two months earlier, diGenova had gone on Fox News and [endorsed the conspiracy theory](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/19/us/politics/joseph-digenova-trump-lawyer.html) that the FBI and Justice Department framed Trump. “There was a brazen plot to illegally exonerate Hillary Clinton and, if she didn’t win the election, to then frame Donald Trump with a falsely created crime,” he said. “Make no mistake about it: A group of F.B.I. and D.O.J. people were trying to frame Donald Trump of a falsely created crime.” It also emerged that during the investigation of President Bill Clinton in 1997, diGenova [published an op-ed](http://time.com/5206281/joseph-digenova-donald-trump-president-indicted/) in the _Wall Street Journal_ arguing that sitting presidents can be indicted, a legal question that may take on new relevance under Mueller’s investigation. ## **Marc Kasowitz**  Marc Kasowitz personal attorney of President Donald Trump makes a statement at the National Press Club, following the congressional testimony of former FBI Director James Comey in Washington, June 8, 2017\. (AP) Manuel Balce Ceneta—AP Trump’s personal attorney, Kasowitz [has represented Trump for year](http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-kasowitz-20170524-story.html)s, including in divorces, bankruptcy cases and the sexual misconduct allegations that surfaced during the presidential campaign. He’s known for a fiery temper—in an [email outburst](http://time.com/4857744/marc-kasowitz-donald-trump-email-threat/?iid=sr-link4) published by ProPublica, Kasowitz told an unidentified person, “”F–k you… And you don’t know me, but I will know you. How dare you send me an email like that. I’m on you now. You are f–king with me now. Let’s see who you are. Watch your back b—h.” Kasowitz then [reportedly left Trump’s legal team](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/corallo-kasowitz-depart-trump-legal-team/), but he has recently been [working with Trump](https://wamu.org/story/18/03/21/lawsuits-force-alleged-trump-affairs-sexual-misconduct-claims-back-into-public-eye/) on the Zervos lawsuit. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5208957/donald-trump-lawyers-legal-team/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5208957/donald-trump-lawyers-legal-team/"},"headline":"Meet the 7 Lawyers Advising Trump on Robert Mueller and Stormy Daniels","datePublished":"2018-03-21T15:44:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:50:16.890Z","description":"As the investigation into Russian meddling and other legal issues move ahead, President Donald Trump is shaking up his legal team.","url":"https://time.com/5208957/donald-trump-lawyers-legal-team/","keywords":["Donald Trump","russia","White House","Robert Mueller","stormy daniels"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta693a51bb84aa74d/6988d5f57cdbac740dd593a9/key-lawyers-advising-president-trump-mcgahn.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Ryan Teague Beckwith","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta693a51bb84aa74d/6988d5f57cdbac740dd593a9/key-lawyers-advising-president-trump-mcgahn.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"key-lawyers-advising-president-trump-mcgahn","caption":"Attorney Donald McGahn leaves the Four Seasons hotel in New York, June 9, 2016, after a GOP fundraiser.","creditText":"Mary Altaffer—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5208957/donald-trump-lawyers-legal-team/","name":"Meet the 7 Lawyers Advising Trump on Robert Mueller and Stormy Daniels"}}]}] ```