If Donald Trump follows through on his plan to hire Joseph diGenova as an attorney, he will be the latest Fox News personality to make it onto Team Trump. You probably won’t be shocked to know diGenova – who is pushing a conspiracy theory that the Russia investigation is an FBI/Department of Justice plot - doesn’t have the greatest reputation for integrity.
From The New York Times:
Mr. diGenova is not expected to take a lead role but will instead serve as a more aggressive player on the president’s legal team. Mr. Trump broke over the weekend from the longstanding advice of some of his lawyers that he refrain from directly attacking the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, a sign of his growing unease with the investigation.
The hire has not been announced, and Mr. Trump frequently changes his mind and sometimes adjusts his plans based on media coverage. It was not clear whether Mr. Trump planned to hire other lawyers.
Mr. diGenova has endorsed the notion that a secretive group of F.B.I. agents concocted the Russia investigation as a way to keep Mr. Trump from becoming president. “There was a brazen plot to illegally exonerate Hillary Clinton and, if she didn’t win the election, to then frame Donald Trump with a falsely created crime,” he said on Fox News in January. He added, “Make no mistake about it: A group of F.B.I. and D.O.J. people were trying to frame Donald Trump of a falsely created crime.”
Little evidence has emerged to support that theory.
Predictably, diGenova’s unfounded conspiracy theories are welcomed on Fox News. DiGenova got a friendly Fox platform on Friday to promote his theory, along with a friendly article on FoxNews.com promoting his credibility. Thursday night, DeGenova got a warm welcome on Tucker Carlson Tonight where he promoted the firing of FBI’s Andrew MacCabe.
DiGenova and his wife, attorney Victoria Toensing, are long-time Republican activists – which, of course, makes them long-time faves on Fox News. You may recall the two promoting Benghazi conspiracy theories on Fox, in 2013.
Outside of Republican-activist circles they have a reputation of unprofessionalism. As Media Matters noted, Toensing has a history of “pushing dubious claims and falsehoods into the media” and the pair has been accused of “relentless self-promotion and non-stop mugging” on television.
In other words, perfect for Trump.
Whether he was auditioning for the job or not, diGenova has already started lying for Trump on the air.
Thursday night, one night before McCabe was fired, diGenova falsely claimed McCabe did “everything he could to exonerate Hillary Clinton.” In fact, McCabe was fired over his authorizing a spokesman to tell the Wall Street Journal that the FBI wanted to go ahead with an investigation into the Clinton Foundation, a move the Obama Department of Justice opposed. Host Tucker Carlson not only did not correct the record, he prodded for more and got it.
“The system of equal justice has been rent asunder by the conduct of James Comey, America’s best-known dirty cop, Andrew McCabe and others, including senior Obama Justice Department officials." diGenova said, without challenge. "Every one of these people should be put in a ‘wanted’ poster at a post office, even though they may never be arrested.”
Watch the appearance that may have gotten diGenova his newest client below, from the March 15, 2018 Tucker Carlson Tonight.
