Here's why Trump's 'reliance on counsel' argument will fail: Ex-prosecutor
Among the defenses former President Donald Trump's legal team is considering in the election subversion trial for which he was just arraigned on Thursday, is the assertion that Trump was relying on faulty advice from incompetent legal counsel when he tried to stop the electoral count from taking place.
However, Peter Zeidenberg, a former federal prosecutor who served as special counsel in the Scooter Libby prosecution, told CNN's Kaitlan Collins that that defense is unlikely to work.
"Do you agree he'd have to get on the stand to make that defense?" asked Collins.
"I'd have to agree with that, that I don't think he can put a defense of counsel defense because he would have to testify to say, I was relying on this information and that's why I did what I did," said Zeidenberg. "I don't think John Eastman could testify because he's a co-conspirator. I think he has a great deal of exposure and I don't think he's going to be testifying. It's something to bandy about to the press now that's going to be our defense, but I don't think they're going to put it on from an evidentiary standpoint. I don't think those arguments will fly in court. I don't think Judge Chutkan, a very experienced judge, is going to be persuaded that's a viable defense."
"Because essentially if he got on the stand he'd have to be cross-examined," said Collins.
"He isn't going to testify," said Zeidenberg. "He won't testify. He's never going to put himself in a position where he can be cross-examined by prosecutors in a courtroom."
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