The three lawyers in addition to Burck who have turned down Trump's entreaties in recent months, one source said, are the conservative heavy-hitters Charles Cooper, Mark Filip and Paul Clement.
Top lawyers with at least four major law firms rebuffed White House overtures to represent President Trump in the Russia investigations, in part over concerns that the president would be unwilling to listen to their advice, according to five sources familiar with discussions about the matter.
Washington (CNN) A number of high-powered lawyers who have represented Donald Trump in the past are sitting out his latest legal battle, as the former President prepares to assert executive privilege to block congressional investigators from getting information on the January 6 insurrection.
Trump's legal machine has been disjointed at times. Several people close to the former President have told CNN in recent days that they are not aware of a broad, cohesive legal strategy ready to respond on his behalf or a litigation heavyweight waiting in the wings to go to court.
The approach to Molo followed the March announcement that attorneys Joseph di Genova and Victoria Toensing would not join the Trump team because of conflicts.
Michael Cohen, President Donald Trumps personal lawyer walks down Park Avenue in New York June 15, 2018 after leaving his hotel. - President Donald Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen has indicated that he is willing to cooperate with federal investigators to alleviate the pressure on himself and his family. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP) (Photo credit should read TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images)
Molo also said conflicts played a role in his decision to turn down the offer to represent the President, a client that some lawyers have said is too difficult to manage. Trump’s lawyers are still having trouble finding attorneys to join their team.
NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 15: Don McGahn, general counsel for the Trump transition team, gets into an elevator in the lobby at Trump Tower, November 15, 2016 in New York City. President-elect Donald Trump is in the process of choosing his presidential cabinet as he transitions from a candidate to the president-elect. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
People close to Trump contacted New York attorney Steven Molo, a former prosecutor who specializes in white collar defense and court room litigation, in recent weeks following the departure of attorney John Dowd from Trump’s personal legal team.
Molo, representing the German lender, quoted Trump’s own boastful words as part of the bank’s defense, including a quote from one book Trump authored: “I turned it on the banks and let them accept some of the blame. I figured it was the bank’s problem not mine.”
WASHINGTON D.C - SEPTEMBER 27: Judge Brett Kavanaugh testifies to the Senate Judiciary Committee during his Supreme Court confirmation hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill September 27, 2018 in Washington, DC. Kavanaugh was called back to testify about claims by Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused him of sexually assaulting her during a party in 1982 when they were high school students in suburban Maryland. (Photo by Jim Bourg-Pool/Getty Images)
Former Trump legal spokesman Mark Corallo (left) and President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Marc Kasowitz arrive to the National Press Club in Washington to read a statement to members of the media, Thursday, June 8, 2017.
Kasowitz, a personal attorney for Trump, was hired in May to lead the president’s legal team against the Mueller probe.
Dowd was Trump’s lead lawyer in the Russia probe when he announced his resignation in March.
The husband-and-wife legal duo of diGenova and Toensing were tapped in March to join Trump’s legal team in the Russia probe.
A high-powered lawyer and former solicitor general, Olson was contacted by the White House in March, reportedly about joining the legal team.
Trump reached out to Buchanan and Webb in search of legal representation, the white-collar lawyers’ firm said in a statement.
The Washington Post reported Thursday that Giuffra, a lawyer at Sullivan & Cromwell, had declined to join Trump’s legal defense team several weeks earlier.
Those include Jay Sekulow and Ty Cobb, according to sources familiar with Trump's legal effort.
During Trump's impeachment over his dealings with Ukraine, Cooper brought an unconventional court challenge on behalf of a National Security Council witness that put on ice the House's ability to get testimony from that witness, Charles Kupperman, his boss John Bolton and then-White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.
A larger, more experienced firm may be needed if the Trump executive privilege fight heads into appeals. Past presidents have used some of the most elite law firms in Washington to help them post-presidency, including the Clintons keeping a decades-long relationship with their private attorney David Kendall at Williams & Connolly and Ronald Reagan turning to Ted Olson, who had high-ranking Justice Department experience, to counsel him when he testified in a 1990 trial related to the Iran-Contra affair.
In the January 6 aftermath, Trump's legal approach has structured itself differently from past investigations, such as the Mueller probe and during the Ukraine impeachment, where presidential privilege and litigation czars emerged. In those cases, Trump enlisted personal lawyers, witnesses' attorneys, the Justice Department and White House counsel's office experts to coordinate.
Post-Watergate-era law allows for former presidents to have some say over what they want to keep protected in their presidential records -- and to litigate what should stay confidential if they choose.
To the witnesses, Trump's legal team said he may want to assert executive privilege . The witnesses may have to decide on their own whether they will comply with subpoenas they've received or fight them in court, the people said.
Two former legal advisers -- Patrick Philbin from the Trump White House counsel's office and Justin Clark from the 2020 campaign -- are still involved.