'Such a damning thing': Ex-federal prosecutors stunned by Trump’s own lawyer’s 'admission'

With former President Donald Trump now facing four federal criminal charges stemming from his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, attorney John Lauro — who is representing Trump in the case — has been making pro-Trump arguments on MAGA-friendly media outlets like Fox News and Newsmax TV.

But during a Thursday night, August 3 panel discussion, MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell argued that some of Lauro's comments may be hurting Trump instead of helping him.

Lauro told Fox News' Laura Ingraham, "What President Trump said is, 'Let’s go with Option D. Let's just halt, let's just pause the voting and allow the state legislatures to take one last look and make a determination as to whether or not the elections were handled fairly.' That's constitutional law. That's not an issue of criminal activity."

But O'Donnell, responding on MSNBC, argued, "That is a Trump criminal defense lawyer quoting Donald Trump committing a crime. Donald Trump's criminal defense lawyer tonight added information to Jack Smith's 42-page description of Donald Trump's crimes. The conversation that John Lauro just described appears on Page 34 of the indictment against his client."

O'Donnell's panel included former federal prosecutors Andrew Weissmann and Barbara McQuade. Weissmann agreed that Lauro's comments on Fox News weren't helpful for his client and commented, "This sounds like an admission."

Weissmann told O'Donnnell, "So, I don't know why a defense lawyer is going to start giving facts about a critical moment…. It is such a damning thing when you put it in context because remember what the indictment alleges… (that) the reason this had to be done with the vice president is because prior to that, all the efforts that Donald Trump took with respect to the secretaries of state did not work. I just don't know why John, who is a good lawyer, didn't just zip it and not say anything."