'Dark horse' case worries Trump attorneys far more than Manhattan fraud charges: WaPo reporter
Donald Trump is facing criminal charges in New York and could potentially face more in other states and federal court, but a reporter identified a "dark horse" case that privately worries his allies the most.
Special counsel Jack Smith has gone quiet in recent weeks as the Department of Justice investigates Trump's role in the Jan. 6 insurrection and his mishandling of classified documents, but Washington Post reporter Jackie Alemany told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Friday about the status of those cases.
"We started the week with some news actually, it was really over the weekend, where Trump's lead attorney, we reported, recused himself from the Mar-a-Lago documents case," Alemany said. "This is Evan Corcoran, who appeared before the grand jury after a judge forced him to testify, and said he couldn't use the crime fraud exemption to shield himself from -- he couldn't use attorney-client privilege because of the crime fraud exception and needed to provide answers to questions to prosecutors about conversations we had had with his client, former President Trump, about some of the statements he made to the Department of Justice, responses to the subpoenas, and conversations with Trump about where these classified documents lied throughout Mar-a-Lago."
"Then, in the middle of the week, we saw some action in the Manhattan [district attorney's] office," Alemany added. "Alvin Bragg ultimately lost a case against House Judiciary chairman Jim Jordan, Mark Pomerantz, the former prosecutor we've previously talked about, is going to have to testify before that Judiciary Committee. Then we have ended the week with Boris Epshteyn, another top Trump attorney which, I think, should make me remind you all about the infamous saying, 'make attorneys get attorneys,' he appeared before the special counsel yesterday for an interview, which raised eyebrows with defense attorneys who noted that it's not often that targets in cases appear before grand juries, but rather try to negotiate these behind-closed-doors interviews. They oftentimes take the Fifth when they appear before the grand jury, and in these interviews maybe sometimes try to obtain some proffer or avoid getting charged. We know that Boris has been intimately involved with all Trump activities for years now, but specifically, the Fulton County D.A.'s case, the Mar-a-Lago documents case and Jan. 6. It's unclear what he told prosecutors yesterday in this closed-door interview, but that's something we're going to be looking for today."
Trump was indicted late last month on 34 felony counts of business fraud in New York, where he also faces a rape and defamation lawsuit filed by author and columnist E. Jean Carroll, which Alemany said greatly worried the former president's attorneys.
"I think that actually could be the dark horse of all these cases, at least in my conversations with some of Trump's lawyers who are specifically involved in the E. Jean Carroll case," she said. "This is a concern for them. Trump has a lot of different concerns right now, but I think the D.A.'s case is at the bottom of that list, sort of mirroring voters' concerns, but we do know that, right now, Trump was supposed to appear in the Carroll case that's been postponed temporarily, but this is someone with a myriad of legal exposure on his plate right now."
Watch the segment below or at this link.
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