Washington mega lawyer Abbe Lowell, 73, is the fresh face of the Trump resistance
By Kara Scannell, CNN
(CNN) — Attorney Abbe Lowell stood beside John Bolton in a federal courthouse in Maryland on last week as Donald Trump’s former national security adviser pleaded not guilty to charges of mishandling classified information.
Three days later, Lowell was at a federal appeals court in Philadelphia arguing that President Trump’s choice of US attorney for New Jersey is unlawful. And on Friday, Lowell will be beside New York Attorney General Letitia James in Norfolk, Virginia, as she is arraigned on federal charges of bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution. James has called the charges “baseless.”
Lowell has for decades been a moth to the flame of Washington politics and scandal. He built his reputation by getting politicians out of legal trouble or advocating pointedly before television cameras to try to sway public opinion and influence prosecutors’ decision making.
Now, at 73, Lowell is one of the most prominent faces defending many of Trump’s perceived enemies in criminal investigations, security clearance revocations, and other matters.
“He’s a lawyers’ lawyer in that the politics aren’t what motivates the case,” said Mark Zaid, a high-profile Washington, DC, lawyer who represents whistleblowers. Zaid hired Lowell and other attorneys when the Trump administration revoked his security clearance. They filed a lawsuit, which is pending, to try to get it restored.
“He argues for the rule of law and this administration is subverting the rule of law so much that I wish there was an army of Abbe Lowells who, even if they didn’t have his skill, that they have his desire to uphold the integrity of the system and the principles that this country was founded on,” Zaid said.
While Lowell is taking on Trump now, his past clients include Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner when they were questioned as part of the special counsel investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election. He also defended President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden, who went to trial and was convicted of gun-related charges. Biden also pleaded guilty to tax crimes. (He was later pardoned.)
Earlier this year, Lowell left Winston & Strawn, the large DC law firm where he spent the past seven years, to set up his own firm to represent clients in the Trump administration’s crosshairs. He’s bolstered his team with a cadre of young lawyers.
In addition to James, Bolton and Zaid, Lowell is also representing others targeted by Trump, including Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, former Department of Homeland Security chief of staff Miles Taylor and several former FBI agents and Justice Department prosecutors who were fired from their positions.
Lowell declined to be interviewed. In a statement he said he started his own firm to fill a need.
“The catalyst was the Trump administration’s attempts to use the legal system to silence perceived opponents and critics. I have challenged government overreach in every administration since President Reagan, but the scale and scope of Trump’s intrusion required action,” Lowell said in a statement to CNN.
Lowell was born in the Bronx, New York, and raised on Long Island where his father was an insurance agent and his mother was a doctor’s assistant. He graduated from Columbia Law School and swiftly made his way to Washington and into politics.
He served as counsel to House Democrats during President Bill Clinton’s impeachment proceedings. Soon thereafter Lowell represented California Democratic Rep. Gary Condit during the disappearance of intern Chandra Levy in 2001. Condit was interviewed by the police amid reports of a romantic relationship with her. He declined to speak to the media, while Lowell frequently sparred with journalists on TV. Condit was never charged with any wrongdoing.
Former Democratic presidential candidate and Sen. John Edwards hired Lowell when he went on trial on campaign finance charges. The trial dominated the headlines. Edwards was acquitted of one charge and the jury deadlocked on others.
“In these politically charged cases you have to wear two hats. You have to be traditionally good in court … but then you also have to have some sophistication about the way Washington works. Abbe wears both,” said Reid Weingarten, a Washington criminal defense lawyer and long-time friend of Lowell’s. “I think the Edwards trial sent him on the path to become a defense attorney trial guy.”
Weingarten encountered Lowell decades earlier when he was a prosecutor investigating a Tennessee lawmaker who Lowell represented.
“Each thing he handled he took incredibly seriously like there was nothing more important than this particular matter, this client, this cross examination. It accounts for much of his success,” said Weingarten. “He devotes his all to it and Abbe’s all is way more than most.” (The lawmaker was not charged with any wrongdoing.)
New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez turned to Lowell when he faced bribery charges in 2017. Then, a Newark jury failed to reach a verdict and a federal judge later acquitted Menendez on some charges. (Menendez was convicted in 2024 on different bribery charges in New York. Lowell did not represent him at trial).
Lowell also represented Matthew Grimes, a former assistant to Trump donor and loyalist Tom Barrack. Barrack, who is now US ambassador to Turkey, and Grimes were both acquitted of federal charges of acting as foreign agents.
During the trial, Lowell fumbled with his microphone as he spoke with the jury and read aloud text messages, translating emojis as “smiley face,” that Grimes sent to an overseas counterpart who was part of the alleged scheme.
One person involved in the case, who did not want to be identified, said Lowell’s actions appeared to disarm his client to the jury and turned the allegedly criminal exchanges into seemingly benign chats between young men looking to impress each other.
“He understands all the intangibles that go into presenting to a jury that’s different from the facts and the law. Those are the things that make him a very good lawyer,” said one lawyer who has opposed him.
“Outside of the courtroom, generally, he’s a tough guy. He’s no holds-barred – a lot of posturing, a lot of self-righteousness. It worked for him,” the person said.
Accused of posturing
Lowell’s posturing and what some lawyers describe as brash manner aren’t without controversy.
He took over Hunter Biden’s representation after a plea deal to end the criminal investigation blew up spectacularly during a court hearing, ending any potential for the case to be resolved before his father’s re-election campaign.
Lowell shifted the strategy to a more aggressive public posture, sparring with Republicans on the hill and teeing the case for trial.
During the trial, lurid details of Hunter Biden’s drug use and sex life spilled into the public in the middle of Biden’s re-election campaign.
During opening arguments, Lowell leaned into Biden’s drug use as something millions of Americans deal with. At one point while Lowell was speaking, one juror appeared to become emotional, reaching for tissues in her bag and dabbed her eyes and her nose several times.
Lowell used the same direct manner in representing James, writing pointed letters to Attorney General Pam Bondi and Ed Martin, who was named special attorney for mortgage fraud at the Justice Department.
In August, Martin criticized Lowell’s tactics, writing in a private letter, “Because of your reputation for using the media to argue your points, I prefer that we communicate by letter. I find leaks like your Bondi letter professionally unacceptable and personally insulting. To that end, I specifically ask that you redouble your efforts to not leak this confidential letter.”
Six days later, Lowell replied.
“You cannot unilaterally conduct a media campaign to prejudice and intimidate my client and expect there will be no similar public response,” Lowell wrote. “And, whenever you do bring your threatened action, please explain to the judges before whom you file all that you have been saying and doing.”
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