On the 268th page of the best-selling book Fear, Bob Woodward quotes President Donald Trump: “I don’t have any good lawyers. I have terrible lawyers … I’ve got a bunch of lawyers who are not aggressive, who are weak, who don’t have my best interests in mind, who aren’t loyal. It’s just a disaster. I can’t find a good lawyer.”

It’s not clear when Trump reportedly voiced his despair, but it does appear to contradict the sunny tweet he typed on March 25 of this year:

Many lawyers and top law firms want to represent me in the Russia case...don’t believe the Fake News narrative that it is hard to find a lawyer who wants to take this on. Fame & fortune will NEVER be turned down by a lawyer, though some are conflicted. Problem is that a new...... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 25, 2018

In truth, the veteran Philadelphia lawyer David Rudovsky tells me, most of his esteemed brethren are wary of representing “nightmare” clients like Trump; their ethical concerns vastly outweigh the lure of fame and fortune. He read Trump’s lament in the Woodward book and was not surprised. For some lawyers, he says, “a high-profile case like [Trump’s] is attractive, it’s interesting work.” But within the legal profession, there’s broad agreement that Trump is unusually difficult—that he doesn’t listen, that he actively undermines the lawyers working for him, and that, perhaps worst of all, he is incapable of learning. “We’re talking about the client from hell,” Rudovsky says. “I know that’s a hackneyed term, but for most lawyers, notwithstanding all the publicity and attention they’d get, representing him has got to be very, very difficult.”

Some of the latest developments in the Russia story confirm that. According to an article Tuesday in The New York Times, which cites more than a dozen inside sources, “it is not clear whether Mr. Trump has given his lawyers a full account of some key events in which he has been involved as president or during the decades running the Trump Organization … The sense of unease among the president’s lawyers can be traced in part to their client. Mr. Trump has repeatedly undermined his position by posting on Twitter or taking other actions that could add to the obstruction case against him.”