Former President Donald Trump's latest indictment by the Department of Justice has prompted his lawyer to repeatedly point to the First Amendment as his primary line of defense, saying it provides"an almost absolute protection."
Trump's attorney in the latest indictment, John Lauro, told NPR that prosecutors"have to prove corrupt intent" under 18 U.S.C. 1512, which is the obstruction statute. "The president was told, given advice, that under these circumstances, the state legislatures have the ultimate ability to qualify electors. He followed that advice," Lauro said in a separate interview with CNN on Wednesday.
Trump's own words are also cited as part of prosecutors' attempts to claim Trump knew that his election fraud claims were false."When the Chairman and another advisor recommended that the Defendant take no action because Inauguration Day was only seventeen days away and any course of action could trigger something unhelpful, the Defendant calmly agreed, stating 'Yeah, you're right, it's too late for us.
"Even at the end, when he asked Mike Pence to pause the voting, he asked that it be sent back to the states so that the states, in exercising their truth-seeking function, could either audit or recertify," Lauro added.
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