As Russia scandal mounts, Trump's lawyers struggle to wrangle president


To the surprise, perhaps, of nobody, President Trump is not very good at following directions. While decades of impulsive decision-making and bluffs once helped Trump build his vast real estate empire, Trump's lawyers, tasked with smoothing out the ongoing Russia controversy, are less enthusiastic about such skills, The Washington Post reports.
The challenge for President Trump's attorneys has become, at its core, managing the unmanageable — their client.He won't follow instructions. After one meeting in which they urged Trump to steer clear of a certain topic, he sent a tweet about that very theme before they arrived back at their office.He won't compartmentalize. With aides, advisers, and friends breezing in and out of the Oval Office, it is not uncommon for the president to suddenly turn the conversation to Russia — a subject that perpetually gnaws at him — in a meeting about something else entirely. [The Washington Post]
Marc Kasowitz, Michael J. Bowe, and Jay Sekulow represent the president. On Thursday, ProPublica reported that Kasowitz sent a series of threatening messages to a stranger who'd urged him in an email to "resign now." Kasowitz's spokesman said the threats "came at the end of a very long day that at 10 p.m. was not yet over."
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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