In what is becoming one of the most remarkable chapters in American legal history, the president of the United States is in serious need of top-notch legal help, but apparently cannot find top-notch lawyers to represent him.

As Robert Mueller’s Russia probe moves forward, the Trump administration has approached a slew of prominent law firms and attorneys, only to be told that while, in the words of Dan Webb and Tom Buchanan of Winston & Strawn, “the opportunity to represent the president [is] the highest honor” that can come a lawyer’s way, they must respectfully decline that honor. This left the president relying on a legal team who, with the exception of former Hogan Lovells lawyer Ty Cobb, features no criminal defense lawyers, let alone attorneys with experience in the sort of investigation Mr. Mueller is conducting.

The reasons top firms and lawyers are giving for refusing to work for Trump include conflicts of interests with current clients, the possibility of alienating sources of future business, the president’s reluctance to follow legal advice, his tendency to ask lawyers to engage in what Ted Boutrous of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher referred to delicately as “questionable activities,” and his history of not paying his bills.

Although these reasons for not taking on the president as a client are plausible, it seems something more profound is at work. After all, given the nature of white-collar criminal defense work, all these firms have extensive experience dealing with complicated conflicts issues, as well as difficult, controversial and otherwise unsavory clients. (By contrast, Bill Clinton secured the services of Bob Bennett, arguably the nation’s top white-collar criminal defense attorney, to defend him in the context of Ken Starr’s independent counsel investigation.)