Former President Donald Trump's interview with NBC News' Kristen Welker could come back to haunt him, warned ex-Assistant U.S. Attorney Gene Rossi.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) charged Trump in August in connection to their investigation into January 6, 2021, when a mob of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol to stop the certification of President Joe Biden's victory, and alleged efforts to thwart the 2020 presidential results, which Trump has claimed was stolen via widespread fraud despite a lack of evidence to back up that claim. Trump has maintained his innocence in the case.
Trump told Welker during an interview on Meet the Press that aired Sunday he ignored the advice of some of his administration's lawyers, who advised him not to push election fraud cases because he "didn't respect them as lawyers."
"In many cases, I didn't respect them. But I did respect others. I respected many others that said the election was rigged. Look. We have many people, and it's my choice—I happen to know that the election was rigged," Trump said.
Rossi said during an appearance on CNN Monday morning that Trump's comments could "hurt him" in the courtroom. He explained that defense arguments can "rely on" arguing that he was relying on counsel when making potentially illegal decisions, and that argument often works for juries.
"That is an excellent defense in front of a jury. At least he could get one juror to say not guilty. But what Mr. Trump did yesterday in that interview, is he didn't just shoot one foot. He shot both feet. He just destroyed any argument that he could say, 'I relied on attorneys,'" he said.
Rossi told Newsweek in a phone interview Monday morning that he believes Trump has put his attorneys "in a box" with his latest comments.
"What Mr. Trump appears to be doing is he was forum shopping, attorney shopping. He was trying to find an attorney that would give him cover and he couldn't find anybody. The attorney general of the United States said no, acting attorney general said no. The deputy attorney general said no. So no one said really there was fraud. And he essentially said, 'Well, I made the decision to go ahead and challenge anyway.' He's going to have a hard time at trial putting forth argument that he relied on attorneys," Rossi said.
Rossi said his attorneys' ability to prevent Trump from making potentially incriminating comments is limited, noting that they cannot publicly say they want a gag order in the case—even if it would help their defense.
Their only option is to hope he listens to their advice, but his track record is that he "does not" typically follow it, Rossi said.
"The best solution for his attorneys, when they watch him on TV, is to have a nice thick glass of single malt scotch. Every time he goes on TV, his attorneys are probably pulling their hair out," he said.
Newsweek reached out to Trump's campaign for comment via email.
"come" - Google News
September 19, 2023 at 12:17AM
https://ift.tt/kTjHLaI
Trump's Words May Come Back to Haunt Him, Ex-Assistant U.S. Atty Warns - Newsweek
"come" - Google News
https://ift.tt/hwb2UK0
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Trump's Words May Come Back to Haunt Him, Ex-Assistant U.S. Atty Warns - Newsweek"
Post a Comment