You know the old Hollywood threat, “You’ll never work in this town again?” If you’re a Trump lawyer, you don’t need anybody to threaten that, you’re busy making that come true by your own actions. It’s been said that the defense of Jack Smith’s election interference case is going to be a “dumpster fire inside a clown car inside a derailing train” and so far that looks to be the way of it.
John Lauro said things in court today that are not only ethical breaches but are a sure way to tank his client’s case. He’s apparently spent so much time on Fox News that he doesn’t remember that bullshit is one thing and law is something else. He’s trying the Fox methodology in Tanya Chutkan’s court and good luck with that, fella.
It doesn’t matter. Within 6 months Trump will have fired this attorney and his replacement and not paid either. 😁
— kdunnez (@_The_Phantom_1_) August 28, 2023
And what direction did things go from there? Altogether now…it got worse!
CHUTKAN says she's "watching carefully" for anything that might affect or "poison" the jury pool. She says that if Lauro intends to poll DC residents as part of a change of venue motion, he must inform the court ex parte.
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) August 28, 2023
Two hours after Monday’s hearing ended, Trump took to Truth Social to vent his frustration, attacking Chutkan as “biased” and “Trump Hating” and suggesting he will “appeal” her trial date. However, trial dates are typically not appealable.
The bulk of the hearing focused on the sheer volume of evidence prosecutors have handed over to Trump’s defense team to prepare for the trial: 12.8 million pages or files, drawn from grand jury interviews, the National Archives, the House Jan. 6 select committee’s evidence and Trump’s campaign and PACs.
Prosecutors on the team of special counsel Jack Smith indicated that their efforts to provide this information to Trump was “substantially complete” and came in five batches over the last several weeks. They said they had taken extraordinary steps to organize, digitize and annotate the evidence to help facilitate Trump’s ability to prepare for trial.
But Lauro, who at times grew heated in his response, said there was no way he could be ready for trial without years to prepare. He noted that there are more than 250 government witnesses he has to research, as well as additional witnesses he may decide to call. He said he’s also in the process of drafting a long series of motions seeking to shrink the case against Trump or get it dismissed altogether.
Lauro was putting on quite the show for the peanut gallery. He even said this.
He also said he expects to file a motion contending that Trump has “executive immunity” for the actions he took to overturn the 2020 election under constitutional principles related to faithfully executing federal law. And he said he separately intends to file motions to dismiss each of the charges Trump faces — including for three alleged conspiracies aimed at disrupting the transfer of power.
Groan. How many times do we have to go over this immunity non issue? Dear Gawd, not again.
She twice told Lauro to “take the temperature down” after he raised his voice to complain about the “outrage to justice” represented by prosecutors’ own expedited trial proposal of Jan. 2, 2024. Chutkan agreed that the special counsel’s timeline was too rapid but still proposed a date far closer to Smith’s preference than Trump’s.
Senior assistant special counsel Molly Gaston argued during her own remarks that Trump has had nearly a year to begin preparing to face charges in this case, noting that he’s been aware of the grand jury investigation since last September. And she noted that his attorneys have been involved in sealed grand jury proceedings beginning even earlier — in August 2022 — about the testimony of 14 witnesses. Many of those sealed proceedings have been the subject of news reports, featuring efforts by Trump to block or limit testimony from figures like former Vice President Mike Pence, chief of staff Mark Meadows and Trump White House counsel Pat Cipollone.
What’s that you say? Didn’t one of Trump’s other lawyers say he was “incredibly intelligent” and that “these are not complicated facts?” Well, yes, that does tend to undercut Lauro’s argument, sadly. Plus, there’s the fact that all the defense has to do is rebut the prosecution and the judge pointed out the way to do that.
Of the remaining 5 million pages, about 57,000 are transcripts of grand jury witness interviews and associated exhibits. She also said prosecutors had annotated the 45-page indictment with citations to key pieces of evidence underlying every fact and allegation, an effort to point Trump’s lawyers toward the documents and testimony they intend to rely on at trial.
That’s as close as Judge Chutkan is going to come to See Spot Run in telling the man how to do his job. But it’s not good enough for Lauro. It won’t be. Poor John Lauro. Poor guy. Oh oh oh.
This guy Lauro is the best that “billionaire” trump can come up with? Surprised he didn’t demand all charges dismissed immediately and his client reinstated to the Oval post haste!
What a shmuck.