Trump boasts ‘productive’ assembly with Justice Department as indictment looms

Former President Donald Trump heralded his legal professionals’ sitdown Thursday with particular counsel Jack Smith as advancing his trigger whilst a brand new federal indictment loomed.

In a publish on his Truth Social web page, Mr. Trump mentioned his authorized crew had a ‘productive meeting’ with Justice Department prosecutors in Washington, the place a grand jury is mulling an indictment towards Mr. Trump for his function within the Jan. 6 riot on the Capitol and makes an attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

“My attorneys had a productive meeting with the DOJ this morning, explaining in detail that I did nothing wrong, was advised by many lawyers and that an indictment would only further destroy our Country,” Mr. Trump wrote.

He additionally pushed again on a information report that the previous president’s legal professionals had been advised to anticipate an indictment through the assembly.

“No indication of notice was given during the meeting — Do not trust the Fake News on anything!,” Mr. Trump wrote.

The assembly occurred the identical day the federal grand jury convened at a federal courthouse in Washington to proceed their probe into Mr. Trump’s efforts to reverse the outcomes of the 2020 election and the occasions surrounding the Jan. 6 riot. Jurors meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays however haven’t met in over per week, spurring hypothesis that an indictment might be imminent.

Andrew Leipold, a legislation professor on the University of Illinois who served on particular counsel Kenneth W. Starr’s Whitewater investigation, described the assembly as a “last chance” for protection attorneys to persuade prosecutors to not indict.

“It’s an opportunity to try to resolve the situation without an indictment, but the likelihood of defense attorneys talking prosecutors out of an indictment is pretty small,” he mentioned.

Mr. Trump’s social media publish hinted at a doable protection if he’s indicted — that he was following the recommendation of his legal professionals. That would allow him to assert that he was counting on the recommendation from his legal professionals that his conduct was authorized and that he can’t be prosecuted if their recommendation was illegal.

At the time of Mr. Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, he was repeatedly consulting with legal professionals comparable to Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Jeffrey Clark and Kenneth Cheseboro.

However, different legal professionals, together with Attorney General William P. Barr, had suggested Mr. Trump that some proposals comparable to proposing a slate of “alternate electors” had no authorized foundation, in keeping with the Democrat-led House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 riot.

“Ignorance of the law is not a defense. The fact that your lawyer told you to do something illegal may give you a cause of action against your lawyer but it doesn’t give you a defense against criminal charges,” Mr. Leipold mentioned.

It is extra seemingly that Mr. Trump is blaming his attorneys as a result of that may resonate higher within the courtroom of public opinion than it will in federal courtroom as he continues his marketing campaign for the presidency.

“It’s an argument with a great intuitive appeal. He’s floating out the idea that the law is complicated and he’s not a lawyer but was doing what his lawyers told him to do and they were wrong,” Mr. Leipold mentioned. “It’s not a authorized protection, however it is going to resonate with most people.

Mr. Trump, who’s the main 2024 candidate for the GOP presidential nomination, confirmed final week that he obtained a letter from the Justice Department that he was a goal of the grand jury probe. He mentioned that he anticipated “an arrest and indictment” after receiving the goal letter.

Federal prosecutors wrote within the letter that Mr. Trump might be charged with violating a federal legislation enacted to crack down on post-Civil War voting intimidation.

Mr. Smith’s letter additionally referred to a few prison statutes, together with conspiracy to defraud the federal government and obstruction of an official continuing.

If the grand jury does pull the set off on an indictment, it will be the third time this yr Mr. Trump was hit with prison fees.

Mr. Smith has already filed 37 prison fees towards Mr. Trump in a separate case about illegally mishandling categorized authorities paperwork. Mr. Trump has pleaded not responsible to the fees.

In March, a Manhattan grand jury indicted Mr. Trump on state fees alleging he falsified information to cowl up hush-money funds in 2016 to 2 ladies who claimed they’d extramarital affairs with him. Mr. Trump denied their claims.

Mr. Trump might additionally face state fees in Georgia for his function in attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election.