Professional liability insurance that will help pay the costs of expensive attorneys is perhaps the most important need for new Trump administration staffers as they head to Washington, some of their predecessors from the last administration are warning.
"You need legal representation if you're facing people who have the arms of the government at their disposal," a former White House official, whose name was not reported, told NBC News.
The official was not covered by insurance during President-elect Donald Trump's first administration but bought it since then.
"It's very intimidating when you don't have people on your side to tell you what you can do and what circumstances you might be walking into," the official said.
Over the past eight years, former Trump aides have been brought to testify before grand juries and congressional committees, where they often needed attorneys to represent their interests.
Former aides said they realized they needed insurance that would pay for lawyers during the House's first impeachment of Trump.
"Everyone started getting it," one former administration official said, while another said buying the insurance is becoming "absolute requirement territory."
"It would be reckless if you have any assets to protect: the house, college funds, whatever,' the official said.
Trump's transition team did not comment on the claims, but Washington advisers have been telling incoming administration officials for years — and not only for Trump's offices — about how they can face legal risks by taking jobs in the government.
"One thing I tell every client considering taking a political appointment in a new administration, whether Republican or Democrat, is to expect that they could get drawn into an investigation and to think hard about whether they are willing to take that risk and whether they're prepared for it," said Robert Kelner, the head of the congressional investigations practice at the law firm Covington & Burling.
"It's just become so routine that it's almost to be assumed, and it can be very distracting and burdensome and occasionally expensive for political appointees," he added.
Several White House aides refused to cooperate with Democrat-led investigations, including the Trump impeachment, the House committee investigation into the Jan. 6 attack, and special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.
Steve Bannon and Roger Stone, two of Trump's former advisers, ended up in prison for refusing to cooperate with the investigations.
"I often say that congressional investigations are like the Wild, Wild West because there are no rules," Kelner said. "It's all about who's the quicker draw, and who's tougher, and who's more clever. So there's a lot of strategy, a lot of maneuvering, a lot of posturing, but not a lot of law, not a lot of rules governing the process."
And with Trump rolling out a crackdown on immigration and listing several executive actions, a former senior Trump White House official said his staffers, and not Trump, would be the ones answering questions if his actions are fought in court or before congressional committees.
"If Trump gives an illegal order and you do it out of loyalty to him, you are liable," the former official said. "He's protected. You're not."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.