Conflicts prevent 2 lawyers from joining Trump legal team

Associated Press

PALM BEACH, Fla.

President Donald Trump will not be adding two new lawyers to the legal

team defending him in the special counsel's Russia investigation after

all, one of the president's attorneys said today.

Trump attorney Jay Sekulow said in a statement that Washington lawyers

Joseph diGenova and Victoria Toensing have conflicts that won't allow them

to represent the president regarding special counsel Robert Mueller's

investigation. Sekulow had announced diGenova's appointment last week.

Sunday's announcement came just hours after Trump used Twitter to push

back against reports that he's having difficulty adding to his legal team,

saying he was "very happy" with his current attorneys.

"Many lawyers and top law firms want to represent me in the Russia case,"

he wrote, adding: "Fame & fortune will NEVER be turned down by a lawyer,

though some are conflicted."

Neither the president nor Sekulow specified the conflict regarding

diGenova and Toensing, who are married to each other and law partners, but

their firm has represented other clients in the special counsel's

investigation, including former Trump campaign adviser Sam Clovis.

Sekulow said Trump was "disappointed" that diGenova and Toensing won't be

defending him in the special counsel investigation, but "those conflicts

do not prevent them from assisting the President in other legal matters."

"The President looks forward to working with them," he added.

On Sunday, diGenova and Toensing released a joint statement, saying, "We

thank the president for his confidence in us, and we look forward to

working with him on other matters." DiGenova, who provided the statement

to The Associated Press, declined to answer additional questions about the

nature of his and Toensing's representation of the president.