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Former president Donald Trump spent much of the day before his first appearance as a criminal defendant in federal court in search of experienced legal representation, but without much in the way of results. Mr Trump, who departed on Monday afternoon from the resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, where he primarily resides during the summer months to travel to Miami aboard his bespoke Boeing 757, has spent much of the last year and a half cycling through a rotating cast of criminal defence attorneys as he has contended with the Department of Justice probe that resulted in his unprecedented indictment under the Espionage Act last week. Two of the more experienced criminal defence lawyers in his stable, James Trusty and John Rowley, quit the ex-president’s team on Thursday, just hours after a Florida grand jury voted to charge him with 37 separate counts stemming from alleged violations of the Espionage Act and other portions of the US criminal code. Another lawyer, Timothy Parlatore, left Mr Trump’s employ roughly a month ago, citing conflicts with a longtime aide to the ex-president, Boris Epshteyn. Yet another of the criminal defence attorneys who once represented Mr Trump in the documents probe, Evan Corcoran, had to step away from that role in the wake of a court ruling ordering him to give evidence against the ex-president before a grand jury and turn over notes and recordings he’d made, citing a rarely-used exception to the attorney-client privilege used in case where an attorney’s advice is found to have been used to commit crimes. Mr Corcoran’s testimony and evidence figured heavily in the 39-page indictment against the ex-president, which detailed Mr Trump’s reaction after he was served with a subpoena compelling him to return all documents in his possession which bore classification markings. Now, with his arraignment just one day away, Mr Trump is scrambling to secure more experienced defence counsel to help him fend off charges which, if he is convicted, could theoretically land the 78-year-old ex-president in prison for the rest of his natural life. But although the Southern District of Florida is known to have a particularly strong defence bar, many of its most prominent practitioners are declining entreaties to join Mr Trump’s legal team. The Independent has learned that one well-known attorney, David Markus, has already declined to represent the ex-president. Mr Markus, a Harvard Law School graduate and former federal public defender, helped former Tallahassee mayor Andrew Gillum beat federal corruption charges earlier this year. While most lawyers would ordinarily jump at the chance to represent a former president of the United States, Mr Trump has long presented a challenge for those he’s asked to stand up for him in court. The ex-president is known to routinely disregard legal advice and is prone to making incriminating statements in public settings, two traits which have long dogged his attempts to find competent jurists to defend him in both civil and criminal matters, both during and after his presidency. Additionally, Mr Trump has a long history of refusing to pay for services rendered by skilled professionals, dating back to his days as a New York real estate developer. The involvement of Mr Epshteyn, a Georgetown Law School graduate who styles himself as Mr Trump’s in-house counsel despite the fact that he has never once appeared in any court on behalf of any client, has presented another stumbling block in the ex-president’s efforts to secure competent representation. According to sources familiar with the matter, Mr Epshteyn’s role in the ex-president’s orbit of late has been to coordinate the different teams of lawyers representing him in civil and criminal cases against him throughout the country. But some people who’ve been involved in those efforts say Mr Epshteyn has used his position to act as a gatekeeper and prevent Mr Trump’s lawyers from delivering candid advise or bad news, though spokespersons for Mr Trump have denied such claims and have described him as a valuable member of the ex-president’s team. As it stands now, Mr Trump is expected to be represented at his arraignment by Christopher Kise, a former Florida Solicitor General who joined the ex-president’s team in the wake of the 8 August 2022 search of his Palm Beach, Florida property by FBI agents, as well as Todd Blanche, a veteran New York-based criminal defence lawyer who has previously appeared for Mr Trump after a Manhattan grand jury indicted him for falsifying business records earlier this year. Mr Kise, a veteran Sunshine State practitioner who is licensed to appear in the Southern District of Florida — the venue where Mr Trump now faces charges — is not known as an experienced criminal defence attorney, as he was first brought on to handle Mr Trump’s failed effort to block the Department of Justice from using the evidence recovered during the search of his home and office. Though Mr Blanche is not licensed to practice by the Florida State Bar or the Southern District of Florida, he can appear for Mr Trump on Tuesday if an attorney licensed to practice in the district such as Mr Kise is willing to vouch for him. Read More Trump indictment – live: Trump leaves Bedminster ahead of Miami arraignment as Bill Barr calls him ‘toast’ Lindsey Graham is lying for Trump. And it shows the real issue with the Republican party Morning Joe host shouts down Republicans backing Trump to appease ‘weirdos and freaks’ Ivanka and Jared split over attending Trump 2024 launch – follow live Why was Donald Trump impeached twice during his first term? Four big lies Trump told during his 2024 presidential announcement

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MANHASSET, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 21, 2023--

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Ukraine could take time to “kick out” over 200,000 of Vladimir Putin’s troops from its soil even if its military counteroffensive achieves all its goals, a soon-to-retire US military general has claimed in a new interview. The comments come as Ukraine has stepped up its counteroffensive against Russia in the last few days by retaking a couple of key villages near battle-worn Bakhmut and launched joint intelligence ops in Crimea, the territory Moscow illegally annexed in 2014. “There’s well over 200,000 Russian troops in Russian-occupied Ukraine,” General Mark A Milley, who is set to retire as the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in an “exit interview” to CNN. “This offensive, although significant has operational and tactical objectives that are limited in the sense that they do not – even if they are fully achieved – they do not completely kick out all the Russians, which is the broader strategic objective that president Zelensky has,” he said. Ejecting Russian soldiers from the entirety of Ukraine is going to take a long time and will be “a very significant effort over a considerable amount of time”, Mr Milley said. The general said he doesn’t want to “put a time on it because a lot of things can happen in a war”. “You could see a general collapse, you can see escalation, you could see a lot of different things happen in the future, but I can tell you that it will take a considerable length of time to militarily eject all 200,000 plus Russian troops out of Russian-occupied Ukraine. That’s a very high bar, that’s gonna take a long time to do it,” he said. Earlier this month, Mr Milley said Ukraine only has around 45 days left before poor weather conditions hinder its continuing counteroffensive. It will become “very difficult to manoeuvre” once it starts raining, according to the head of the US military. “That offensive kicked off about 90 days ago,” he said, referring to recent criticism about the counteroffensive. “It has gone slower than the planners anticipated. But that is a difference between what (Prussian general and military theorist Carl von) Clausewitz called war on paper and real war,” he said. “So these are real people in real vehicles that are fighting through real minefields, and there’s real death and destruction, and there’s real friction. “And there’s still a reasonable amount of time – probably about 30 to 45 days’ worth of fighting weather left. So the Ukrainians aren’t done,” he said. “This battle is not done. They haven’t finished the fighting part of what they’re trying to accomplish. So, we’ll see… It’s too early to say how this is going to end. They at least have achieved partial success in what they set out to do, and that’s important. And then the rains will come in. It’ll become very muddy,” he said. “It’ll be very difficult to manoeuvre at that point, and then you’ll get the deep winter, and then, at that point, we’ll see where things go. “But right now it is way too early to say that this offensive has failed or not failed.” In the same interview, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the UK’s Chief of the Defence Staff, said Ukraine is “winning” because Russia failed to bring the country under its control. The Ukrainian counteroffensive is now in its fourth month and its forces have now had a series of territorial successes against Russian forces, including closing in on the country’s eastern areas from multiple directions. Russia had invaded Ukraine in February last year. Ukraine’s pushback, backed by its Western allies who have poured help through modern machinery and funds, has so far been marked by small victories and is awaiting more major breakthroughs. Read More Ukraine-Russia war – live: Putin launches attack on Lviv as Russian defences breached near Bakhmut villages Ukraine’s Zelensky questions why Russia still has place at UN ahead of New York address Explosions shake Lviv as western Ukraine under air raid alerts for Russian drone strikes Ukrainian troops claim to have liberated Bakhmut village from Russia UNGA Briefing: Biden, Zelenskyy and what else is going on at the United Nations