Politico: Who's watching Trump's ethics watchdogs?
But Trevor Potter, the president of the Campaign Legal Center and a former GOP chairman at the Federal Election Committee, said Burchfield is in an impossible spot trying to glean insight before offering his advice from inside the Trump Organization. The company, he noted, has a profit motive that may not always square with the best ethical standards that would keep it and its namesake out of the headlines.
“The job doesn’t make any sense,” Potter said, adding it’s also “more window dressing than anything that affects what the company is going to do, and it puts Bobby into a position of approving things without being sure he knows all the facts.”
The arrangement also showcases the risks to a lawyer’s professional status from taking on matters related to such high-profile clients and where even the best legal advice may go unheeded.
“Every one of those lawyers has to think about their own reputation. There were some political appointees who came out of the Nixon administration OK and there were a lot of people who didn’t,” Potter said.