Originally published at: Trump struggles to find an attorney willing to beclown themselves | Boing Boing
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But I thought he is beloved in Florida?
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They can assign him a public defender. That would be so fucking delicious.
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Perhaps it’s the fact that he went to great lengths to deceive his own legal counsel, and even had them sign off on documents he knew to be untrue.
If you know there’s a good chance you’ll be thrown under the bus, you don’t get on the bus.
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Dewey, Cheatem & Howe
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A bunch of surprisingly ignorant “give him a public defender!1!!, haw!” from people who should know better.
Public defenders are for people who can’t afford a lawyer, not for people who can’t get the lawyer they want to show up. They’re often some of the most qualified trial attorneys in the courthouse and they usually take their jobs extremely seriously, they aren’t a punishment.
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Didn’t pay contractors. Didn’t he not pay some of his lawyers in the past as well?
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I’m sure that all the experts in ‘how do I even classified documents’ can’t wait to risk their continued clearance by getting involved in this sordid affair.
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He got disbarred. (or suspended? I’m not sure how far along it is, but I don’t think he can practice law currently)
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You know if Trump was on the witness stand on trial for shooting someone on 5th Avenue, he would probably slap the gun down right in front of him to prove a point. 
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Man, it would be awesome to just have a public defender…
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He’d shoot the judge in an attempt to prove the point.
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“A bunch” meaning “one” in this case, or did I miss some?
Anyway, I know what the primary purpose of public defenders in the US is, but is that the only one? I ask because here in Germany he would be assigned a “public defender” if he didn’t provide his own in time. He would just be billed for that afterwards.
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aren’t a whole bunch of the very same people leaping up to defend him on cable news also lawyers? they should put the gavel where their mouth is
^ an election behind, but still.
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This possibly is what may happen, just for the initial plea. An arraignment may be something more.
I know that lawyers have to be qualified not only in the state where they practice, but possibly be certified in federal criminal proceedings?
Maybe @Kii can shed more light?
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Public defenders are qualified and competent public servants; however they almost never have the time and resources available to dedicate to a case that a highly-paid private law firm would. That’s one of the key reasons that rich defendants usually experience better outcomes than poor defendants.
None of that is a knock against the public defenders themselves. It’s a knock against a system that theoretically holds all citizens equally under the law but in practice screws over the poor.
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A bunch, meaning the comments linked to in the story, leading to other examples when you click through those. A bunch.
And yes, that’s the purpose of the public defender in the US, criminal defense for the indigent. They are not standby counsel for defendants who are in-between lawyers.
Different courts have “assigned counsel” programs (or something similar) that fulfills a parallel function in some cases for defendants that require representation, but they aren’t interchangeable.
Which is why using them as the butt of a joke about what a punishment it would be for Trump to be represented by one is an insult to them. The Federal Public Defender is a relatively well-funded and incredibly skilled bunch of lawyers who practice exclusively in that court, and almost without exception are considered to be excellent advocates. They aren’t the cliche of the downtrodden office with a busted copier and no money to investigate.
No, the date will be moved to give him a chance to find local counsel, but public defenders don’t act as interim counsel like that.
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