But he will probably operate in tandem with his best friend, Richard L. Armitage, seen as a likely deputy defense secretary, and with his erstwhile civilian boss, former Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, as the virtual president of foreign policy within the White House.
Goldman outlined its likely defense arguments in two letters sent to the S.E.C. in September in response to a notice from the agency that the company was under investigation and could be sued.
The route over Iraq would be the most direct and likely, defense analysts say, because Iraq effectively has no air defenses and the United States, after its December withdrawal, no longer has the obligation to defend Iraqi skies.
More spending on defense is among Trump's top priorities so "it is likely defense companies would do better," Braakman said.
If this had ended the bidding, admittedly an improbable event, he would have been surprised to find himself, against likely defenses, running a club suit instead.
On Monday, the strategy seemed to have worked, or at least not hurt: aside from their attempt to have a jail term thrown out, which was never a likely outcome, the defense lawyers were granted their requests for a relatively light sentence for Mr. Marshall and a 30-day delay in his surrender date.
At a Tuesday hearing before the House intelligence committee, General Keith Alexander, the NSA director, repeatedly pointed out that the telecommunications companies and internet service providers are "compelled by the [Fisa] court" to cooperate with the NSA, a likely line of defense for the companies in a prospective class-action lawsuit.
Complex issues of "who said what to whom and when" are likely to come up in any phone-hacking trials, as well as a likely argument from the defense that legal red lines were crossed in pursuit of issues that were in the public interest.
In a countersuit, Mays and Scott say Misick was trying to unlawfully seize control of Hip Hop Weekly and sell it to fund his defense of a "likely criminal prosecution by the British government". The lawsuit was settled in February.
The bad-aim defense is not a likely winner.
