JOHN LAURO IS AN INCOMPETENT MORON
John Lauro, Donald Trump’s latest defense attorney who one would think had found his law license in a box of Cheerios if Andrew Weissmen wasn’t saying that he and Lauro worked together in the Eastern district of New York as U.S. Attorneys and he considers Lauro “competent”, went on Faux Snooze and Newsmax tonight and in interviews at both places he directly quoted his client saying that he wanted Mike Pence to ge a 10-day delay in the count so the issue could be returned to the states for determination of which votes were accurate. In other words, the defense lawuer went on television and confirmed the accuracy of Count 4 of the indictment!
According to Weissman, when an “agent of the defendant” - which Lauro is as his defense attorney - makes a statement of fact like this, it is admissable in court as evidence to convict Trump on that count.
Weissman, Tim Heaphy and Barbar McQuade all agreed with Lawrence O’Donnell that what is happening with the Trump defense is they are running through various possible defenses in public, to see which one resonates with the public. Doing this is an attempt to pollute the jury pool by providing misinformation that a potential juror might latch onto and use as his or her reason to be the holdout that results in a hung jury in the coming trial.
And Mike Pence has apparently “found religion” - or as Glenn Kirchner said, “found his belief in the rule of law.” He stated on a radio interview broadcast in New Hampshire and to a TV interviewer in Iowa today that he never believed he had the right to do the things Trump was asking him to do and that he specifically told Trump that John Eastman (Co-conspirator No. 2) had advised the president that denying the validity of the votes and sending them back to the states was a violation of the Electoral Count Act and had advised the president not to do it. Pence called the five attorneys who have been identified as Co-conspirators 1 thru 5 “the president’s crackpot lawyers.”
Tim Heaphy, former U.S. Attorney who was the lead investigator for the January 6 Commission, said that Pence’s new public statements are “definitive” in proving Count 4 in the indictment - that Trump conspired to deny the public the right to vote and have their vote counted, that he did violate the Ku Klux Klan Act. This is the most serious of the charges he faces. The magistrate read the indictment charge by charge, pointing out the potential sentences if Trump is found guilty. Charge 4 carries a maximum sentence of 20 years.
Lawrence was amazed that Lauro would say such things. So am I. s Andrew Weissman pointed out, with Lauro’s statements entered into the record as evidence, Trump would be in the position where the only way he could contest that evidence would be to take the stand and testify under oath.
We all know that is the worst possible thing for Trump to do, since the only question when he is on the stand would be how many times he will perjure himself.
I said earlier today in other posts at other sites that the ability to pass the LSAT high enough to be accepted into law school, and the ability to pass the tests given once in, are not evidence of actual intelligence.
John Lauro has just proved my argument. This really is the single dumbest, most incompetent, thing a defense attorney can do. It’s why most experienced defense attorneys say as little as possible directly about specific charges they are defending their client against.
What. An. Idiot.
Buckle your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy five months between now and opening day in this trial.
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Trump will continue his disparagement of the legal system, judges, and democracy in general (all uttered with increasingly unhinged undertones of racism and fascist authoritarianism) and we will, no question, face the biggest test our country has faced in a very long time. Trump is cornered. Those who have a reason to destroy the US as it is now, using him as the battering ram, are also cornered. He knows his only way out is to win the race for President. He wins, and all of this goes away. Yes, there are and will be non-Fed cases. But this one is the big Kahuna. He really is running to keep himself, his financial benefactors, and the various other bad actors who want to see an autocratic government put into place from being prosecuted. It’s quite a dangerous situation. Sociopaths don’t like to be cornered.
I have to say I am perplexed and anxious. At first I was pleasantly shocked at Lauro throwing his client under the bus. Trump bring Trump, you know he’s going to employ the trashiest lawyer he can find. So it’s all part of a pattern and Trump is going to jail ultimately. But.
But, what if it’s all part of a scheme to try the case in the MSM, poison the jury pool, as you suggest, find a way to build sympathy for Trump in the swing states, and win the election in the Electoral College. That’s the only strategy they got, right? The indictment builds such a strong case. We all know the details from the Jan 6 Committee. Not even Clarence Darrow could get Trump off the hook. So the only strategy is to string out the trial, lots of motions, taking them up yo the Circuit Court on appeal, then the Supremes, where the Dirty Half Dozen (yes, Tom, you can use that), will sit on the petitions snd then remand for further proceedings, and string things out so it’s impossible to get a trial scheduled before November 2024. It has to be their strategy. It’s all they got. Then Pres. Trump (so hard to write that), gets to cause endless Constitutional crises as he pardons himself, gets a corrupt AG to pull the prosecutors, and whatever else he and this deplorables can dream up.
Also, in my experience as a civil lawyer (never tried a criminal matter), I found that my hardest cases were against the stupidest lawyers. They screw everything up, cause lots of delays, make you spin your wheels knocking down the dumbest shit, and judges just don’t have the energy to rein them in. It’s so aggravating. Lauro doesn’t have to be playing 3D chess to delay the trial. If he’s a genuine f--- up, that’s sufficient.
I really hate feeling like American politics and law is nothing more than the human equivalent of Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle. And it’s felt that way since 2016.