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Does Paul Manafort's Attorney Represent Manafort Or Donald Trump?

Everybody deserves a competent defense. Is Manafort getting one?

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Kevin Downing

Yesterday, Paul Manafort’s personal attorney, Kevin Downing, made a statement to the press that was right out of a mob movie. Downing’s client is facing 12 counts of conspiracy, money laundering, and failure to register as a foreign agent. In response to these serious allegations — charges that carry with them potentially decades in jail — Downing said this:

“I think you all saw today that President Donald Trump was correct. There is no evidence that Mr. Manafort or the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government.”

What? That’s like the mob lawyer coming out and saying, “The charges against my client [the button man], have nothing to do with Mikey [the loveable mob boss], who is just an honest olive oil importer whom I also happen to represent.”

Your client is the one CHARGED here. I think he’d like you to represent his interests, not the narrative of the bigger fish trying to escape prosecution.

Of course, in the mafia situation, the lawyer’s legal fees are being paid by the boss, not the button, so it makes sense. Here, I’m positive that Paul Manafort is paying Kevin Downing a bunch of money to represent PAUL MANAFORT, not the President of the United States.

I can understand if Paul Manafort — a man who has been functionally ruined — still thinks his best bet is to maintain lockstep alliance with Donald Trump. I understand if Manafort believes that this is only happening to him because Mueller is trying to get Donald Trump. It would almost make sense for him to further believe that if people realize that they can’t get to Donald Trump, they’ll leave him alone. Hell, Manafort might even think that his buddy is going to risk impeachment by giving him a pardon — and given that Donald Trump knows that Republicans in Congress are little cowards, he just might.

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But his lawyer should know better. If it turns out Mueller and all the other investigators have nothing on Donald Trump, Manafort is still going down. Yesterday proved that Mueller is coming after him, even if that’s the only person he gets. Downing, at this point, HAS TO understand that there is a fundamental conflict of interest between his client and his president. Manafort’s interests and Trump’s interests no longer align.

Maybe Downing does understand all this, and yesterday’s statement was just his attempt to placate his client by saying what his client wants to be said. Granted, the history of lawyers who are willing to work in Trumpland does not suggest basic competence or even ethics, but we don’t know that about Downing. Maybe he’s good. Maybe’s he’s having the hard conversations with Manafort behind closed doors, but just telling the press what Manafort wants them to hear.

But please understand, we NEED Paul Manafort to have a competent legal defense team. We need his defense team to focus on his best interests, and not the best interests of the president. Our system only works when advocates are fierce, ethical, and self-interested on behalf of their clients. I don’t want to be sitting here in five years having to write “Free Paul Manafort,” like I have to write “Free Brendan Dassey.”

The president has lawyers, he has judges. He’s got entire news organizations devoted to his narrative. He’s got the forces of white supremacy, and for the most part, he’s got the full force of the Republican party: both have affixed themselves to his triumph.

Paul Manafort has Kevin Downing and nobody else. I’m rooting for Downing to be good at his job, I really am.

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Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist.

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