Former President Donald Trump was represented during his arraignment in a federal court in Florida by two prominent lawyers, Todd Blanche and Chris Kise, from New York and Florida, respectively.
According to reports, Kise and Blanche have defended Trump against state and federal charges and probes for a while. Blanche led the lawsuit with Kise and two other lawyers, Jim John Rowley, and Trusty resigned.
Blanche joined Trump in early April. Blanche left the oldest New York City legal firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, to represent Trump.
A former federal prosecutor and a seasoned white-collar criminal defense attorney, Blanche was Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) for 9 years, winning praise from the Department of Justice.
He co-led the Southern District of New York’s White Plains Division, investigating and prosecuting racketeering, public corruption, and bank fraud. In 2017, he joined Cadwalader.
A report shows that last August, Trump hired Kise to assist him on the “classified” documents case. Kise then defended Trump in a Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg lawsuit.
Kise won four U.S. Supreme Court cases. He has argued scores of cases before the Florida Supreme Court.
Kise is a Florida GOP veteran. From 2003 until 2006, then-Republican Attorney General Charlie Crist appointed him Florida solicitor general. Kise served as counsel to Governor Crist and then as general counsel to the transition teams of both former Florida Governor Rick Scott (2010) and current Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (2018).
A recent survey found that the vast majority of Americans believe that the Justice Department’s decision to arrest former President Donald Trump for his handling of secret documents was driven by politics and an attempt to influence the 2024 election.
Based on a Harvard CAPS-Harris survey published late last week, 55% of registered voters believe Donald Trump’s federal indictment is driven by politics, while 45% believe it is credible.
A larger percentage of Republicans than Democrats (83% to 27%) believe the indictment was motivated by politics.
