A Perhaps Not So Wonderful Web of Individuals Connected to Donald J. Trump

A suggested beheading, domestic violence restraining orders, “ample opportunity for self-dealing and fraud,” accusation of an intense desire to kill a mother of one’s own three children, a press conference between a sex shop and a crematorium, an unprecedented series of lawsuit failures, in recalling Donald J. Trump’s statement about “The Best People,” we are reminded of Inigo Montoya’s word’s in The Princess Bride: “You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means.”

Indeed, the connections tying lawyers Rudy Giuliani, Robert J. Costello, John M. Pierce, as well as Costello’s new client Steve Bannon, form a picture that may perhaps make it “inconceivable” to view the group as falling within such lofty status.

As a quick primer, Costello, per the New York Times, is a “longtime friend” of Giuliani; Rudy is president Trump’s personal lawyer; Pierce is the former lawyer for the President’s personal lawyer and says Giuliani is a “close friend;” and Costello vouched for the California-based Pierce to practice law in New York this past August.  The ties binding Bannon, Giuliani, Costello and Pierce, as well as dossier of troubling issues for Kyle Rittenhouse attorney Pierce, are captured in “Is It All Connected?”

As noted in that article, back in March 2019, as reported by ABC News, Costello was involved with Giuliani in trying to convince Michael Cohen, a former lawyer for Trump, to fall in line and remain loyal to the President.  We’d be remiss if we did not point out that loyalty to Donald Trump perhaps may be viewed as one of the longest one-way streets an individual could choose to go down; but hey, that’s just us. The Giuliani and Costello efforts were ultimately unsuccessful and, as reported in the USA Today, Cohen flipped.

Fast forward to yesterday and news hit, as reported in Law & Crime, that Costello was hired by Steve Bannon as defense counsel for criminal charges related to “We Build a Wall.”

As for Cohen, he did not hold back in expressing his views on the individual who suggested putting Dr. Anthony Fauci’s “head on a pike,” as well as Bannon’s new attorney.

“If you have friends in low places, one day, all of them will meet at the bottom,” Cohen told Law  & Crime in a text message. “In fact, Bannon and Costello are two low life, peas in a pod. Personally, I am ecstatic they found one another. Rest assured, Costello can and will do for Bannon absolutely NOTHING!“

Notably, his prior lawyer quit after Bannon suggested the beheading of Dr. Fauci.  As reported in The Hill, Dr. Fauci recently stated: “I don’t socialize. It’s my wife and I and the federal agents. . . I have federal agents that protect me. So they drive me to work, they stay here, they make sure that nobody tries to break in [to my home] and, as Steve Bannon would like, have somebody behead me.”

Bannon is not the only individual in this group who has suggested severe violence. A recent article in Mother Jones, reports that Pierce—whose firm, Pierce Bainbridge Beck Price & Hecht LLP, was named as co-counsel with Costello for Giuliani’s issues with Ukraine—“sent his ex-wife more than 60 texts laced with violent language after she told him she couldn’t drive their son to soccer because of a work conflict: ‘I will bury u if I have to.’”  This resulted in a second domestic violence restraining order against Pierce.

In addition, according to a sworn declaration from his Harvard Law School educated ex-wife, Pierce, also a graduate of Harvard Law School, allegedly “expressed an intense desire to kill” her in 2016.  Pierce has denied the accusation.  (The related public filings also reveal that the Notre Dame University undergraduate lost his job at the K&L Gates law firm in 2016 after “physically assaulting” a co-worker.)

Pierce not only represented Giuliani, but has publicly stated that Rudy is a “close friend.” As suggested in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the litigation track record of Pierce’s firm appears to have been similar to Giuliani’s abysmal record in election fraud lawsuits.

Tightening the ties that bind, Costello vouched for the California-based Pierce to practice law in New York on August 19 of this year. As it turns out, a vendor sued Pierce’s firm the same day, and a different vendor sued the day before. An article published a few weeks back posed the question: Is the Lawyer for Kyle Rittenhouse a Deadbeat?  Incredibly, subsequent to that article, two loan brokers have sued Pierce Bainbridge Beck Price & Hecht LLP to confirm an arbitration award of $3.5 million.

While Pierce’s Costello supported request to practice in New York was not challenged in August, he faced scathing oppositions – to a separate request in New York and one in Wisconsin – and as reported in ABC News, in the face of opposition, the embattled attorney quickly withdrew both requests.

It remains to be seen how things play out for Bannon, and the rest of this Trump-connected crew; however one would hope that when Joe Biden officially takes over there will be the type of “Law & Order” that Donald J. Trump preaches, however, in our view, does not appear to practice.

Don Lewis
@DonLew87 on Twitter

Thank you to all who already support our work since we could not exist without your generosity. If you have not already, please consider supporting us on Patreon to ensure we can continue bringing you the best of independent journalism.