Trump and allies are using the 'slumber party' defense — but it won't work: Legal expert

Former President Donald Trump's co-defendants in the Georgia racketeering case may try to downplay the legal situation they are facing and treat it like it's all some kind of "slumber party" — but that's not an actual strategy for getting out of trouble, said former acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal on MSNBC's "Deadline: White House" Wednesday.

This comes as several of the defendants, like Georgia Republican Party Chair David Shafer and Trump lawyer John Eastman, have their mugshots from the Fulton County Jail released to the public — and as Rudy Giuliani tries to both claim to reporters he didn't make any false statements, after telling a court he had a constitutionally protected right to make false statements.

"Of course, as a narrative it's completely incoherent, but it seems to reveal this legal twister that Rudy is engaged in, in full view of the press and public," said anchor Nicolle Wallace. "Seems like a pretty blatant tell that he's really racking up the legal exposure and legal problems."

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"That's exactly right, Nicolle," said Katyal. "It's a Giuliani versus Giuliani, and you know, he's got a technical legal argument that he admitted he was lying only for the purposes that proceeding last month and they can strictly be used against them in the criminal prosecution, but remember, Rudy is out there in the cameras and he's not talking in the court, he's talking to the public. And it's absolutely admissible in trying to understand what Rudy's coherent defense is. He doesn't have one. And whatever he said today contradicts what he told the court last month. So he may have a strict legal argument, but in terms of the court of public opinion and in terms one of these guys who used to be one our most respected mayors, one of our most respected prosecutors, has gone over to the dark side."

The whole thing, said Katyal, brings up "the Spider-Man principle or the Biblical principle: to whom great power is given, great responsibility adheres. This guy blew every part of it."

"They're calling it an act of patriotism," Katyal continued. "I suppose they can say that. They can also say that their mugshots are some sort of supermodel photo shoot, and their time at the Fulton County Jail is some sort of slumber party, and whatever other nonsense they want, but at the end of the day they're facing very serious criminal charges for trying to install a coup and hijack the election and take our vote away from us, and all of the bloviating and Four Seasons Landscaping style of behavior that they have is not going to hide that fundamental basic fact. And that's what we're seeing play out with the cameras today and what we'll see playing out tomorrow in front of the cameras."

Watch the video below or at the link here.

Neal Katyal on the legal situation of Trump's allieswww.youtube.com