By Joel H. Cohen
NEW YORK– JLo, the Jewish Lawyers Organization – not to be confused with Jennifer Lopez, the actress – will honor President Trump and his administration for “incredible job creation,” namely for attorneys, many of them Jewish.
A JLo official said: “Candidate Trump promised unbelievable strides in creating jobs. And now, President Trump has more than made good on his promise, with job creation beyond our fondest dreams — for the legal profession.”
High-powered lawyers have been hired by a growing number of Trump associates concerned about their legal vulnerability as witnesses or targets of various investigations. Special counsel Robert Mueller and several House and Senate committees are looking into possible collusion by some members of Trump’s team with Russia during last year’s election campaign, and for possible obstruction of justice..
Trump, his son Donald Trump Jr., Vice President Pence and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior White House adviser, have all hired personal legal counsel, some of them specialists in criminal law. Several former aides and associates, including Michael Flynn, Jeff Sessions, Sean Spicer, Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, Boris Epshteyn and Michael Caputo, have also lawyered up.
And even Trump’s longtime lawyer Michael Cohen has hired a lawyer.
President Trump tweeted, “Obama administration never came close to getting assignments for the number of attorneys being retained by our people. Not even close. I’m very, very proud to have created so many jobs, and there’ll be many more to come.”
A special award – appropriately named The Lawyer-Up — will be presented next month at a testimonial dinner. The event will be held at Trump’s Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida, with the tab for dinner expected to run about $10,000 a plate. A portion of the proceeds may be allocated for legal defense funds.
A special committee of the lawyers’ association is currently debating whether time spent by attorneys at the dinner could be considered billable hours.
The veteran legal experts hired by members of the Trump team are renowned not only for their expertise, but their astronomical fees, which some Trump aides can afford and many others cannot. There is also the question of whether the White House –or surplus Inauguration funds — can legally pick up any part of the bill.
Many investigation-wise individuals have urged Trump staff members who night be involved in the probes to enlist their own legal help, no matter the cost.
“It’s good not only for you — but the national economy,” one attorney remarked, quite seriously.
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San Diego Jewish World assures readers who are new to freelance writer Joel Cohen’s “Just Kidding” columns that they are satirical and should not be taken seriously.