A former U.S. attorney who now runs a government watchdog group is concerned that a single lawyer is being allowed to represent four Clinton aides in the FBI probe against Hilary Clinton. Lawyer Beth Wilkinson, a respected Washington D.C. attorney, now represents four central figures in the FBI investigation into Clinton’s email scandal. Critics fear that allowing a single attorney to represent several figures in the crime could allow the former Clinton aides to have an unfair advantage in corroborating their stories between interviews and when sharing case-relevant information.
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Wilkinson, who became famous for successfully arguing in favor of the death penalty for Timothy McVeigh in the Oklahoma City bombing case, now represents several of Clinton’s former aides. Former chief of staff Cheryl Mills, policy adviser Jake Sullivan, media gatekeeper Philippe Reines, and former aide Heather Samuelson are all being represented by Wilkinson. Matthew Whitaker, executive director of the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust(FACT), argues that this is a major “red flag” because it allows the Clinton aides to corroborate their stories between FBI interviews. Whitaker explained his point of view to FoxNews:
“The benefit is to have one lawyer’s brain have all the knowledge of the various pieces and parts, and so each of those potential targets or subjects of the investigation get to share information across that same attorney — and quite frankly get their story to sync up and understand what other people know of the situation,”
Wilkinson’s office has not commented on the issue as they have made it policy not to respond to press inquiries on the case. While the attorney-multiple client relationship is unusual it has not been challenged by Justice Department officials. Whitaker further pushed the issue by stating that lawyer sharing could lead to confidential information being shared between clients which could cause an obstruction in seeking the truth. He clarified his message in the following statement to FoxNews:
“All you’re trying to do is seek the truth, and when someone is sharing a lawyer, you worry that the interview that you just did an hour ago with that attorney has been shared with the next witness and they can fix or reconcile their story to be the same,”
The opposing viewpoint being used to justify the lawyer sharing was presented by a defense attorney, who asked not to speak on the record, is that the Clinton aides do not fear criminal liability and plan to present a untied front against the prosecution. Clinton still claims to this day that she has not violated email practices and that her actions were inline with her predecessors. She believes there is “absolutely no possibility” she will be indicted.
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