This year, President Trump has been calling on the Department of Justice to prosecute his perceived enemies — and the DOJ seems to be taking direction.
In the last few weeks alone, prosecutors secured indictments against former FBI Director Jim Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. The White House has signaled more cases may be on the way.
For those defendants, the costs of fighting criminal charges in a high-profile case are enormous, and they can reverberate for years, according to veteran attorneys who represent people in the headlines.
Lisa Wayne has tried 150 cases before juries in the course of her decades-long career. Wayne, now executive director of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said there's "no golden rule" when it comes to how expensive the legal bills might be.
The cost depends on what charges a person faces, where they live, how experienced their lawyer is and whether that person needs to hire experts in advance of trial, she said.
"Most people have to figure out, out of pocket," Wayne said. "And figure out, do they have the savings? Do they have friends and family that can help them? Do they take mortgages on their homes? It can be a very stressful situation for most individuals."
Three other longtime criminal lawyers put the estimate at between $1 million and $5 million at a small law firm, to $25 million or more at a large one.
Trump himself spoke about some $100 million in legal fees that he faced after his first term in office, for indictments in two federal cases and state charges in New York and Georgia.
Help from former trial partner or a defense fund
Comey, a former deputy U.S. attorney general and longtime federal prosecutor, turned to his former trial partner for help. Patrick Fitzgerald, who famously led the U.S. Attorney's Office in Chicago and went on to a lucrative partnership at the Skadden law firm, came out of retirement to help defend Comey.
In private practice, Fitzgerald likely commanded more than $2,000 an hour for his legal work. Now, he's able to set his own rates and may be working not quite for free, but nowhere near full price.
Then there's Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California. Schiff is a longtime critic who helped investigate Trump during the president's first term in office. Now, Schiff is under investigation for alleged mortgage fraud.
Trump took note in recent remarks from the Oval Office. "Looks like Adam Schiff really did a bad thing. They have him. Now let's see what happens."
The key issue is that Schiff owns homes in both California and Maryland, closer to the U.S. Congress. Schiff's allies have said he accurately filled out mortgage paperwork and consulted with lawyers during that process.
His attorney, Preet Bharara, a former U.S. attorney in Manhattan, called the allegations of wrongdoing "transparently false, stale and long debunked."
Even so, Schiff created a legal defense fund in August to help cover the legal bills.
The White House said the Justice Department is on the right track with its prosecutions. "The Trump administration will continue to deliver the truth to the American people while restoring integrity and accountability to our justice system," said spokeswoman Abigail Jackson.
"They should be people that are shamed"
A driving force behind all these investigations is Ed Martin, a lawyer from Missouri with more experience in politics than in the courtroom. Martin could not win Senate confirmation to serve as U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., after lawmakers expressed concern about his support for people who rioted at the U.S. Capitol nearly five years ago.
Instead, Martin moved to lead a Weaponization Working Group focused on people who have run afoul of Trump.
"There are some really bad actors, some people that did some really bad things to the American people," Martin told reporters as he started his new post. "And if they can be charged, we'll charge them. But if they can't be charged, we will name them. And in a culture that respects shame, they should be people that are shamed."
That's not the way Justice Department policy has worked in the past. Prosecutors are not supposed to speak ill of people they lack enough evidence to charge with crimes — or about those who haven't been charged yet.
"I can't imagine anything more stressful than being accused by the government and carrying the weight of that as an individual in this country," said Wayne, of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
Where to go "to get my reputation back?"
Even if a defendant wins an acquittal, they've been through the wringer, facing emotional pressure on themselves and their entire family.
Consider D.C. lawyer Michael Sussmann. He was investigated by a special counsel in connection with his work for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. A jury in D.C. found him not guilty of making a false statement to the FBI after a two-week trial in 2022.
Outside the courthouse following his victory, Sussman sounded exhausted.
"Despite being falsely accused, I'm relieved that justice ultimately prevailed in my case," he said. "As you can imagine, this has been a difficult year for my family and me."
Back in the 1980s, the former labor secretary under President Ronald Reagan faced fraud charges — only to be found not guilty by a jury.
Raymond Donovan responded: "Which office do I go to to get my reputation back?"
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