Marc Mukasey, a lawyer for U.S. President Donald Trump, is leaving the federal courtroom in Manhattan, following a judge’s ruling that allowed Deutsche Bank AG and Capital One Financial Corp to provide financial records to investigators. New York City, USA, on May 22nd. 2019.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Rep. Matt Gaetz has hired two New York defense attorneys, one of whom is currently representing the Trump Organization in an ongoing criminal investigation, to represent him while the Florida Republican faces a federal investigation into sex trafficking.
The retention of Trump’s attorney, Marc Mukasey, stands out not only for Mukasey’s track record in handling serious criminal cases, but also because former President Donald Trump has considered Gaetz among his most ardent advocates.
Mukasey, a former federal prosecutor who is the son of former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, had also been protected by Trump’s personal lawyer, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Isabelle Kirshner joins Mukasey to represent Gaetz in the criminal investigation.
Gaetz, who has not been charged, has also hired a Washington-based public relations firm, Logan Circle Group, to deal with what has been the condemnation of media consequences after news of the federal investigation was released. for the first time last week in the New York Times.
The moves came as a lawyer for a friend of Gaetz’s, Joel Greenberg, who indicated Thursday that Greenberg plans to plead guilty in a federal case where he has been charged with sex trafficking of a minor girl, fraud by cable, persecution and intent to bribe a federal government. official.
That case against Greenberg, a former Florida County tax collector, led to the ongoing investigation of 38-year-old Gaetz on suspicion of illicit sex with a 17-year-old girl.
Investigators also look at whether Gaetz paid women to travel to the Bahamas to have sex, according to NBC News, and whether he and Greenberg used the Internet to search for women to pay them for sex.
The disclosure that Greenberg hopes to reach an agreement on his own case sparked immediate speculation that he would cooperate with federal authorities as they continue to investigate Gaetz, who had denied any wrongdoing.
“I’m sure Matt Gaetz isn’t feeling very comfortable today,” Greenberg’s lawyer Fritz Scheller said Thursday after appearing in court. “You’ve seen the number of stories out there and there’s emphasis on their relationship. Isn’t it obvious to assume you’d be worried?”
Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) overhears during a committee marking hearing on articles of dismissal against U.S. President Donald Trump in the Longworth House office building on Capitol Hill on 11 December 2019 in Washington, DC.
Drew Angerer | Getty Images
Erin Elmore of the Logan Circle Group said Friday in a statement about Gaetz: “Matt has always been a fighter.”
“A fighter for his constituents, a fighter for the country and a fighter for the Constitution,” Elmore said.
“He will fight the unfounded accusations against him. His legal team, led by Marc Mukasey and Isabelle Kirshner, will lead the fight to those who try to tarnish his name with falsehoods.”
Elmore is a lawyer who appeared in the third season as a contestant on Trump’s old television show “The Apprentice.”
The Logan Circle group is led by Harlan Hill, another Trump supporter, who was banned from appearing on conservative Fox News last fall after he tweeted that Vice President “Kamala Harris presents himself as an unbearable lie b —-. I’m sorry, it’s true. “
Mukasey declined to comment to CNBC about his work for Gaetz noting Elmore’s statement.
A Kirshner spokesman declined to comment on her, apart from confirming that she and Mukasey had been detained by Gaetz.
Trump hasn’t said much at all in Gaetz’s defense last week, other than denying a story claiming that Gaetz apologized to Trump for a global criminal pardon before his term ended in January and noted that Gaetz “has he totally denied the allegations against him. “
Mukasey is currently one of several attorneys representing Trump’s company in a criminal investigation conducted by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, Cyrus Vance Jr., that observes not only that company, but also the former president himself, and other people related to the firm.
The Vance office is believed to be investigating possible tax and banking fraud by the Trump Organization, as well as whether the company properly accounted for the cash payments made in 2016 to two women who say they had intercourse. sex with Trump.
The former president denies the women’s claims and has said the Vance poll is a witch hunt.
On Thursday, investigators from Vance’s office collected financial records from Jennifer Weisselberg, the former daughter-in-law of Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg.
Jennifer Weisselberg has said she is collaborating with the Vance spacecraft. The Washington Post reported that a subpoena issued at Vance’s request sought documents he owned about the Trump Organization and an ice rink the company had run in Central Park, which was run by Weisselberg’s ex-husband, Barry Weisselberg.
Michael Cohen, who served for years as Trump’s personal attorney, has also collaborated on Vance’s research.
At the same time, New York Attorney General Letitia James is conducting a civil investigation into whether the Trump Organization unduly valued various real estate assets for financial gain in the form of tax liabilities, insurance rates, and loan terms. lower.
Mukasey represents the Trump Organization in James’ investigation.
Isabelle Kirshner attends Artwalk NY 2015 at the Metropolitan Pavilion on November 17, 2015 in New York City.
Chance Yeh | Getty Images