Trump says he’s ‘very happy’ with legal team as investigations escalate

Mr Trump’s current legal team includes at least one lawyer who has never appeared in federal court

Former president Donald Trump on Thursday denied reports that he or his inner circle are concerned by his current legal team’s lack of experience dealing with the sort of complex federal litigation he could face if indicted for crimes related to his alleged unlawful retention of classified documents.

Over the 10 days since his Palm Beach, Florida home was searched by FBI agents, Mr Trump’s associates have raised concerns that the stable of lawyers who’ve been representing him in a variety of lawsuits since he left office is not up to the job. Multiple news outlets have reported on the unease with his current representation among some of his aides, including The Independent and The Washington Post.

Mr Trump took to his own Truth Social platform to refute the Post report at 1.33 am on Thursday, writing that it was “fake news”.

“I already have excellent and experienced lawyers — am very happy with them,” he wrote, adding that the investigation into the boxes of documents recovered from Mar-a-Lago was “highly political prosecutorial misconduct”.

Although two of his current attorneys — Jim Trusty and Evan Corcoran — are well-regarded defence practitioners who cut their teeth prosecuting federal criminal cases, the highest-profile members of his legal team are far less experienced.

The most visible of his new lawyers are Christina Bobb, a former US Marine Judge Advocate who previously worked for the right-wing One America News channel as an anchor and correspondent, and Alina Habba, who runs her own small law firm located near Mr Trump’s New Jersey golf club. Ms Habba has been the ex-president’s lead counsel on a series of lawsuits against media outlets, Hillary Clinton, and the Democratic National Committee, while it was Ms Bobb who signed for a receipt documenting what the FBI seized from his home last week.

Neither Ms Bobb or Ms Habba has any experience handling federal criminal cases, while another of his attorneys, Florida-based lawyer Lindsey Halligan, has never appeared in federal court on any matter.