Drew Findling, a celebrity attorney who has supported liberal causes, is now defending the former president against RICO charges
Drew Findling has a storied history within the Georgia legal world. The high-profile Atlanta attorney is known for representing celebrity clients like Cardi B, Migos’ Offset, DaBaby, and NBA Youngboy, garnering him the moniker #BillionDollarLawyer.
Findling has also been a frequent backer of Democratic political figures, so much so that in 2020 he donated to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ primary campaign. The donation wouldn’t normally raise eyebrows, except that Findling is currently one of Donald Trump’s lead attorneys helping the former president fight RICO charges handed down by Willis on Monday.
Findling donated $1,440 to Willis’ district attorney bid in July of 2020, according to campaign disclosure reports flagged by American Bridge 21st Century, a Democratic research outfit. Findling joined Trump’s legal team in August of last year.
Willis won her 2020 election, and most recently used her post to level a 41-count RICO indictment against Trump and 18 of his associates over their efforts to interfere with the outcome of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia and other states. The charges against the former president include solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer, conspiracy to commit forgery in the first degree, conspiracy to commit filing false documents, and making false statements and writings.
Trump has been attacking Willis on a regular basis. He called her “RACIST” last week and baselessly accused her of having an “affair” with a “gang member” she had prosecuted, then described her as a “corrupt,” and “rabid partisan” after the indictment came down on Monday. He added on Tuesday she is a “failed District Attorney.”
Trump’s legal team responded to the indictment, as well, writing in a statement that Willis and prosecutors’ created a “one-sided grand jury presentation” that “relied on witnesses who harbor their own personal and political interests — some of whom ran campaigns touting their efforts against the accused and/or profited from book deals and employment opportunities as a result.”
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“We look forward to a detailed review of this indictment which is undoubtedly just as flawed and unconstitutional as this entire process has been,” they added.
Findling’s name was the statement’s first attribution.
Findling is by no means a Trump loyalist. The attorney has spent years publicly bashing Trump on a myriad of issues. In response to Trump’s targeting of the Central Park Five, Findling called his statements “racist, cruel, sick, unforgivable and un-American.” When Trump attacked NBA superstar Lebron James as unintelligent, Findling called him “pathetic.” He also heavily advocated for President Joe Biden during the 2020 election cycle, donating a total of $8,400 to the Biden Victory Fund and his campaign.
None of this matters to Findling, apparently. In a statement given to Insider last August, he said he “may differ politically from many of my clients, but that doesn’t change my commitment to defend against wrongful investigations.” He added that the investigation into Trump’s efforts to meddle with election outcomes in Georgia is “erroneous and politically driven persecution.”
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Willis assumed office on Jan. 1, 2021, amid the chaotic aftermath of the 2020 election. The former district prosecutor ran on a platform of judicial transparency and recidivism prevention. Willis was already well known within Georgia legal circles as an assertive figure unafraid of trying complex and controversial cases — especially when it came to organized crime. Days after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, she launched an investigation into a Jan. 2, 2021, phone call in which Trump had attempted to convince Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” the votes necessary to secure victory in the state.
Willis defended the integrity of her work on Monday. “I make decisions in this office based on the facts and the law,” she said in a press conference announcing the indictment. “The law is completely nonpartisan. That’s how decisions are made in every case… we look at the facts, we look at the law, and we bring charges.”
