Dan Webb and Tom Buchanan Latest Lawyers to Decline to Join Trump’s Legal Team

Two more high-power attorneys have had to turn down President Donald Trump. Tom Buchanan and Dan Webb confirmed to The Daily Beast that Trump reached out to them about representing him, and that they couldn’t do it.

“President Trump reached out to Dan Webb and Tom Buchanan to provide legal representation,” they said in a statement. “They were unable to take on the representation due to business conflicts. However they consider the opportunity to represent the President to be the highest honor and they sincerely regret that they cannot do so. They wish the president the best and believe he has excellent representation in Ty Cobb and Jay Sekulow.”

Buchanan is a partner at the firm Winston & Strawn, in its Washington office. Webb is the firm’s co-executive chairman, based in Chicago, according to the firm’s website.

A spokesperson for the White House did not immediately return a request for comment.

Buchanan and Webb’s decision highlights the challenges the president has faced in assembling a legal team to represent him for matters related to the Mueller probe. Over the weekend, Trump tweeted that numerous lawyers were eager to work for him. But so far, his team has been shrinking rather than expanding.

John Dowd, one of the president’s personal lawyers, resigned from his post representing Trump late last week. Days before resigning, he told The Daily Beast that he thought the Mueller probe should be shuttered.

Currently, Jay Sekulow––the head of the conservative American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ)––represents the president for purposes of the Mueller probe. Over the past several months, he has been assisted by about half a dozen attorneys affiliated with ACLJ. He and his team have also worked out of ACLJ’s Washington offices.