Trump's new defense lawyer helped draft his 'rambling' 12-page statement: NYT

Donald Trump's new defense attorney helped draft the former president's lengthy public statement on the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.

"As new questions swirled this past week about former President Donald J. Trump’s potential criminal exposure for seeking to overturn the 2020 election, Mr. Trump issued a rambling 12-page statement. It contained his usual mix of outlandish claims, hyperbole and outright falsehoods, but also something that Trump allies and legal experts said was notable and different: the beginnings of a legal defense," The New York Timesreported Saturday.

The statement cited the debunked Dinesh D'Souza film "2000 Mules" fourteen times.

"And the statement also reflected steps Mr. Trump is taking behind the scenes to build a new legal team to deal with an array of investigations, including into his pressure campaign to change the outcome of the election in Georgia and his taking classified documents with him when he left office," the newspaper reported. "M. Evan Corcoran, a white-collar defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor brought on by Mr. Trump, was involved in drafting the document, according to two people briefed on the matter. Mr. Corcoran has also represented Stephen K. Bannon, a Trump ally who has been indicted by the Justice Department for refusing to cooperate with the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack."

Corcoran was the lead lawyer on a motion filed on Friday seeking to ban mention of Jan. 6 at Bannon's trial, which is scheduled for July 18.

"Attorney General Merrick B. Garland has given no public indication that the department is building a case against Mr. Trump, who has long contended that the investigations into the Jan. 6 attack are partisan and unfounded and whose side of the story has not been presented in the House committee’s hearings," the newspaper reported. "But the panel’s investigation has already generated evidence that could increase the pressure on Mr. Garland to move more aggressively, a course of action that would carry extraordinary legal and political implications."

Read the full report.