Trump’s lawyers went into DOJ meeting ‘guns blazing’ — and it was a mistake: legal analyst
June 06, 2023
Former U.S. Attorney and Los Angeles Times legal analyst Harry Litman thinks that everything is already in place to move forward with an indictment of Donald Trump – and all that is left is to have the vote before the grand jury.
Speaking to MSNBC on Tuesday, Litman explained that, generally, the last move for defense attorneys is to plead their case before the prosecutors as a last attempt to prevent an indictment.
It "is something that is routine when it is asked for, but normally a savvy defense lawyer will try to propose some kind of deal, some kind of actual diminution of the charges," said Litman.
Trump's lawyers met with prosecutors Monday.
"And they went in guns blazing," Litman said. "Trump's reaction this morning kind of reflects that. And I agree, it may be a smidgeon farther, I think a charging decision before that meeting would have occurred, it would have all gone up to the attorney general, there would be a draft indictment, there would be a selection of which charges to bring because there are possible ones. And now once that meeting happens, I think that the only move left is [to] go to the grand jury and ask them to present a true bill."
He posted on Twitter later that the meeting seemed like nothing more than a "b---h session."
"It's the wrong time and place for that and a blown opportunity to get something from DOJ," he tweeted.
Litman went on to talk about the difference between the Florida grand jury and the Washington, D.C. one. It's possible, according to NBC News reporter Ken Dilanian, that the Florida grand jury – which will start sitting this week – involves the indictment of someone else that was helping Trump like his aides or staff, he said.
The conversation then turned to Trump's social media rants being a possible indication that he's been briefed by his lawyers on what is coming.
New York Times reporter Peter Baker suggested that the reason Trump is "exploding" is that "he knows something may be coming and [he's] certainly trying to prepare the ground for it, prepare his base, his Republican voters."
He's "trying to discredit any indictment that might come, by saying this is just one more part of the elaborate witch hunt," Baker explained. "And I haven't met anybody yet who liked the prosecutor and said nice things about them. That's not unusual. But it has been a tried and true strategy for former President Trump at least politically over the years, to try to make clear that anything that ever is alleged about him has nothing to do with him, it's all that people are out to get him. He feeds the victimization narrative, and it has been successful for him."
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