Veteran Washington, D.C., attorney Ted Olson, who decided against joining President Trump’s legal team last week, said Monday that “turmoil” and “chaos” in the Trump White House is “beyond normal.”
Olson, who served as U.S. solicitor general under President George W. Bush, told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell that the high number of personnel changes in the Trump administration are “not good for anything.”
“I think everybody would agree this is turmoil, it’s chaos, it’s confusion, it’s not good for anything,” Olson said. “We always believe that there should be an orderly process, and of course, government is not clean or orderly ever. But this seems to be beyond normal.”
Trump in recent weeks has fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and national security adviser H.R. McMaster, economic adviser Gary Cohn and communications director Hope Hicks have all either resigned from the White House or announced their intention to do so. Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin is reportedly on thin ice.
A key member of Trump’s legal team, John Dowd, also stepped down last week.
Trump offered a position last week to Olson, who turned him down. Olson had previously turned down an offer to join the administration.
Trump claimed on Sunday that “many lawyers” want to represent him and called reports that it has been difficult for him to find attorneys to join his legal team “fake news.”