Andrew J. Ekonomou has been named President Trump’s lead counsel to defend him in the Russia probe. Ekonomou, according to a report in Talking Points Memo, has a rather colorful past – revealing his present tie to Trump’s other attorney defending him in Robert Mueller’s investigation.
In addition to being “a medieval historian who writes about the early medieval papacy and the Byzantine empire,” Ekonomou – who was brought in to the White House by Trump’s TV lawyer Jay Sekulow – used to be Sekulow’s attorney.
Many who don’t watch Fox News on a regular basis are not aware Jay Sekulow is also the head of the American Center for Law and Justice, the far Christian right’s response to the ACLU. Sekulow’s ACLJ has very interesting and profitable fundraising methods, as Talking Points Memo’s Josh Marshall reported overnight.
In 2002 Sekulow’s ACLJ apparently sent a letter to “the Rural Route 2 mailbox of Alice Rissler who lived just outside Charles Town, West Virginia.”
In the letter, Sekulow mentioned a call the Risslers had received from “my assistant, Damion Boyd.” Sekulow, he explained, following up about their tax deductible contribution to the work of the Lord.
“I know you told Damion that you weren’t sure whether you could help with a gift or not … But if you do find you can send as much as $25, it will be a tremendous blessing.” Sekulow or perhaps we should say “Sekulow” signed the letter “your brother advocating Jesus.”
The letter was sent to Alice Rissler’s husband, who had died two years ago. Her son Rich called the ACLJ. They allegedly laughed at him. So Rich wrote a letter asking about their practices.
He received a response – from Ekonomou, Atkinson & Lambros LLC, as in Andrew J. Ekonomou.
“Any further direct communications between you and my clients are to cease at once,” the letter stated.
The Washington Post reported at the time that “Rissler disregarded the letter, which he took as a legal threat. After writing another letter to Sekulow, and getting no reply, he wrote to Ekonomou, asking a series of questions. Among them was whether the ACLJ was violating West Virginia’s Solicitation of Charitable Funds Act and statutes dealing with fraudulent schemes and false pretenses.”
He also “complained to the West Virginia secretary of state’s charity regulators.”
TPM’s Marshall sums up what were the president’s current lead counsel’s activities back then: “In other words, fifteen years ago Ekonomou’s gig was sending nastygrams to rural Christians who got bent out of shape over Sekulow’s hyper-aggressive fundraising pitches.”
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