Trump's lawyer squirms as MSNBC's Ari Melber grills him and asks if he'd take on Trump's Jan. 6 case
MSNBC host Ari Melber spoke to Donald Trump's lawyer on his Tuesday episode of "The Beat." The two debated whether or not Trump lied about the affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels and that Trump paid the hush money payments just like a loan to his campaign.
"Sounds like you're saying one, not a campaign finance crime," Melber said, following up on that piece of the interview. "The misdemeanor, sure, maybe, but you don't want to deal with the misdemeanor. You're kind of admitting part of the misdemeanor."
"Ari, please don't put those words in my mouth," said lawyer Joe Tacopina.
"But they weren't legal services," Melber said.
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"His lawyer classified them as legal services his lawyer sent him an invoice for legal services. His lawyer told him they'd be properly classified as legal services even if you put them in your checkbook," complained Tacopina. He complained that a lie would be if Trump said he purchased a horse. He also said that Trump had no obligation to say anything about the donations to the FEC.
"I suppose the question becomes, did any company owned by Donald Trump or controlled by him or Donald Trump personally tell the government this is legal services because that would be false?" said Melber.
"The government being the United States government, and that answer is absolutely not," said Tacopina.
"Can you substantiate that?" asked Melber
"I don't need to substantiate anything, they need to substantiate a charge," said the lawyer.
"In a criminal court, that's true," said Melber.
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"Well, here we are!" said Tacopina. "We're not talking about traffic court."
Melber said that the former president hasn't yet been charged. However, "you sound like someone who's bracing for a charge."
Tacopina said it was only because he was listening to Melber.
"I'm listening to this stuff, I still got hope, because I think this will be an enormous stain on the legacy of that district attorney. For the last three years, they scoured every record of Donald Trump," said Tacopina, who began to talk about Mark Pomeranz.
Tacopina went on to say that "we are shocked that this has gotten this far." He said that the reason that the case was being brought was that they were weaponizing the justice system. He brought up Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), claiming that the Justice Department was being weaponized against Donald Trump. The Manhattan DA isn't part of the Justice Department.
He said that because Trump is innocent, Trump will be catapulted to the presidency.
Tacopina also went on to say that Pomeranz signed a document when he left his law firm that he went to the DA as a prosecutor. He was looking for a crime to fit the person, said Tacopina. He claimed that Pomeranz violated confidentiality agreements and rules about grand juries when he wrote his book and that Alvin Bragg will prosecute him as a result and ensure his license is removed.
"That's what I've heard," said Tacopina.
"Heard from who?" asked Melber.
"The district attorney's office," said Tacopina.
"From someone currently working at the office," said Melber.
"Correct."
Tacopina said that someone at the DA's office said that they're looking at Pomeranz as having violated the grand jury secrecy laws.
"Why would they tell you that right now?" asked Melber. Tacopina said that he's been "interacting with them on that topic." Melber then asked if Tacopina was willing to swear to such a statement in an affidavit.
"Sure," said Tacopina.
Melber brought up the checks that Trump signed. But Tacopina said that it wasn't sent to Daniels it was sent to Cohen.
Melber went on to ask questions about what Trump said at CPAC about "retribution." Tacopina said that he's going after the Justice Department for their weaponization, which is part of the GOP's effort to bring down Joe Biden. Retribution, he said, is "getting rid of all the bad apples."
He also asked about the Jan. 6 case and Tacopina said that he doesn't know enough about Jan. 6 to know whether to take the case. Tacopina dodged, saying he took Kimberly Guilfoyle's case but wouldn't say whether he would work for Trump. Instead, he asked what Trump did wrong. He said that depending on a lot of other things he would take the case.
See the video below or at the link here.
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