Trump, attorney defiant in face of Jan. 6 charges

An attorney for former President Trump spent Sunday fiercely defending his client in a series of TV interviews that aimed to reset the narrative in the case related to Trump’s efforts to cling to power after losing the 2020 presidential election. 

John Lauro, one of two attorneys who were alongside Trump last week during his arraignment, appeared on all five major Sunday morning political TV shows, collectively known as a “full Ginsburg” — albeit a modern-day one since he was not in the studio for all five — where he continued to mold his legal defense of the former president.

Trump was charged last week with four counts including conspiracy to violate civil rights, conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding. 

What emerged Sunday was a legal defense that maintained Trump was exercising his First Amendment right — even as he encouraged election officials to find votes that he claimed were illegally cast and even as he raised the possibility to former Vice President Mike Pence of rejecting certain Electoral College votes. The defense also maintains that it will be impossible to prove Trump knew he lost the election, despite a plethora of aides and officials in the White House who told him he had.

On CNN’s “State of the Union,” Lauro sought to draw a distinction between “asking” Pence to take certain actions on Jan. 6, 2021 — including rejecting valid votes — and “directing” Pence to take certain actions. He made the argument that, by virtue of the fact that the task was not complete, Trump was merely exercising speech. 

“Asking is aspirational. Asking is not action. It’s core free speech. The press should be defending free speech,” Lauro told CNN’s Dana Bash. 

“What President Trump was doing is within the reality and the realm of free speech. He’s asking his vice president, ‘What about taking this course of action?’ Ultimately, his vice president rejected all of the proposals that were made,” Lauro later added on CNN. “What President Trump did not do is direct Vice President Pence to do anything. He asked him in an aspirational way. Asking is covered by the First Amendment.”

Lauro made a similar argument in defending Trump’s now-infamous phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, whom Trump asked to “find 11,780 votes” in order to secure Trump’s victory, despite actually losing the state in the 2020 election.

In an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Lauro called this request “an aspirational ask” and said “he’s entitled to petition even state government.”

“What he was asking for is for Raffensperger to get to the truth. He believed that there were in excess of 10,000 votes that were counted illegally, and what he was asking for is the secretary of state to act appropriately and find these votes that were counted illegally,” Lauro said on NBC. “That was an aspirational ask. He’s entitled to petition even state government.”

Lauro also made the case that the government won’t be able to prove Trump knew he lost the election. 

“The government, the Biden administration, would have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump did not believe that he had won the election. They will never be able to do that. And that’s why this prosecution is so ill-conceived,” Lauro said on NBC.

Lauro also took further aim at Pence in an interview on ABC’s “This Week,” where he said he “cannot wait” to cross-examine Pence, arguing that the former vice president’s testimony will bolster the defense’s argument that Trump truly believed the election was stolen and that he won. 

“I cannot wait until I have the opportunity to cross-examine Mr. Pence because what he will do is completely eliminate any doubt that Mr. Trump — President Trump firmly believed that the election irregularities had led to inappropriate results,” Lauro said.

Pence, however, said he has “no plans” to testify in an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that aired Sunday, but he also said that “people can be confident we’ll obey the law.” Pence did confirm that he testified before the grand jury that brought the case in Washington, D.C.

When it comes to cameras in the courtroom, Lauro told “Fox News Sunday” host Shannon Bream that he would “love to see” the trial televised but suggested he did not think the federal government would approve. 

“I’m convinced the Biden administration does not want the American people to see the truth. And they acted on it by filing this protective order, which is an effort to keep important information about this case from the press,” Lauro said, challenging the media to view a protective order against Trump requested by prosecutors as an infringement on their access. 

Lauro also said in an interview on CBS that Trump would not accept a plea deal on the Jan. 6 charges and will soon seek a motion to dismiss the case.

Trump himself also weighed in Sunday to suggest that his legal team would seek the recusal of the trial judge assigned to the case, but he gave no basis for doing so.

“There is no way I can get a fair trial with the judge ‘assigned’ to the ridiculous freedom of speech/fair elections case. Everybody knows this, and so does she!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “We will be immediately asking for recusal of this judge on very powerful grounds, and likewise for venue change, out [of] D.C.”

He also went after special counsel Jack Smith on Truth Social to suggest the case was being brought now in order to interfere with his candidacy for president in 2024.