Referring to Todd Blanche’s representation of Donald Trump in the ongoing New York County criminal case involving allegations that Trump paid off a porn star to cover up an affair she said she had with him and then covered up the payment to her with false business records, Elie Honig, a senior legal analyst at CNN stated: “I have heard from a good number of people in the [United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY)] who have said, ‘Why the heck would Todd do this—why would he ever take this case?’…My response is, generally, when did we become pearl-clutchers about defense lawyers defending defendants?…That’s what the job is and what our system requires.”

I respectfully disagree. But before I say why, some disclosures are in order.