Rick Perry Has Assembled An All-Star Legal Team

The Washington Post

Sean Sullivan

August 26, 2014

In case you haven’t heard, Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) is facing felony charges alleging he abused his powers and tried to coerce an elected official to resign.

Perry insists he isn’t guilty. And he’s hired an all-star legal team to make that case for him in court. Here’s a quick look at the lineup:

Steve Schmidt: Schmidt is the latest addition to Perry’s team. A veteran Republican strategist best known for his role as a senior adviser on Sen. John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign, he was portrayed by Woody Harrelson in the HBO film “Game Change.”

Ben Ginsberg: Ginsberg is a longtime Washington lawyer who has represented campaigns, committees and members of Congress. He served as George W. Bush’s lawyer during the 2000 Florida recount.

Mark Fabiani: Fabiani also remembers the Florida recount well: He was a deputy campaign manager for Al Gore in 2000. He’s also the co-author of a book titled “Masters of Disaster: The Ten Commandments of Damage Control.”

David Botsford: Botsford is an Austin-based criminal lawyer who has testified before U.S. House and Senate committees in the past.

Tony Buzbee: Buzbee has defended Jimmy Buffet in an intellectual property case and he successfully took on the oil and gas company BP.

Tom Phillips: Phillips is a retired chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court.

Bobby Burchfield: Burchfield is a courtroom attorney based in Washington who represented the Republican National Committee and others in a Supreme Court challenge to the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law.