“Tell it often, tell it early, tell it yourself.” That’s the subtitle of Lanny Davis’ 1999 memoir about his time in the Clinton White House, when he answered 125 phone calls a day from members of the press chasing stories about purported campaign finance violations and other percolating scandals.

And it’s an indication that Davis, whose latest in a long string of high-profile and often unsympathetic clients is President Donald Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen, has a different, more focused understanding of a lawyer’s role in times of crisis.