On the morning of his surrender to authorities at Georgia’s Fulton County jail Thursday, former President Donald Trump replaced his attorney, moving from one experienced hip-hop lawyer to another: He swapped Drew Findling, who has represented Gucci Mane, Offset and others and is often called the “Billion Dollar Lawyer,” for Steve Sadow, who has worked with Rick Ross and recently got Gunna out of prison.
“I have been retained to represent President Trump in the Fulton County, Georgia case,” Sadow said in a statement to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “The president should never have been indicted. He is innocent of all the charges brought against him.”
Trump was indicted by a Fulton grand jury earlier this month on 13 felony counts in conjunction with his efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results.
Sadow formally notified Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee that he is Trump’s new lawyer on Thursday; Findling declined the paper’s requests for comment.
A veteran defense attorney, Sadow recently represented rapper Gunna (real name: Sergio Kitchens) who in December entered a guilty plea to one count of violating Georgia’s RICO act as part of a gang indictment against him and fellow rapper Young Thug, along with numerous alleged members of the YSL — for Young Slime Life — “gang.” Invoking the “Alford plea,” he maintained his innocence but accepted the punishment of a guilty verdict. The rapper received a four-year suspended sentence and is subject to special conditions including 500 hours of community service. Sadow has also represented Atlanta’s Gold Club, a now-defunct strip club where sports stars received sexual favors, and NFL star Ray Lewis and co-defendant Reginald Oakley in a murder case; Lewis pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of obstruction and Oakley was acquitted in 2000 in the stabbing deaths of Jacinth Baker and Richard Lollar.
Attorney Scott Grubman, who represents co-defendant Kenneth Chesbro in the Trump case, told the AJC that Sadow is “an amazing lawyer with a proven track record of acquittals in high-profile cases. I welcome him to the case and look forward to achieving a mutual goal on behalf of our respective clients.”
Sadow added, “We look forward to the case being dismissed or, if necessary, an unbiased, open minded jury finding the president not guilty. Prosecutions intended to advance or serve the ambitions and careers of political opponents of the president have no place in our justice system.”
