Ex-Prosecutor Says Trump’s Contempt Motion Really Tells Us 2 Things About His Lawyers

Andrew Weissmann, a former federal prosecutor, instructed Donald Trump’s attorneys don’t have any management over their consumer and are merely pandering to the MAGA base after they requested a decide to carry particular counsel Jack Smith in contempt of court docket.

Trump’s attorneys submitted a submitting on Thursday arguing that Smith, the prosecutor overseeing Trump’s federal election subversion case, has violated a keep order put in place by Judge Tanya Chutkan as a result of he submitted pretrial filings in the course of the ongoing pause.

Chutkan put the case’s authorized proceedings on maintain final month whereas Trump pursues an appeals course of on the assertion that he’s immune from prosecution.

“I think that this is a real sign of the lawyers not being able to say no to their client,” Weissmann instructed MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell on Thursday. “As somebody in the legal profession, it is disappointing.”

Weissmann defined that the keep is in place largely to guard the protection, so Trump’s group doesn’t must act till the enchantment is resolved.

He additionally instructed that Smith’s group was, if something, being useful by persevering with to satisfy their deadlines, and famous that there’s no requirement for Trump’s group to have a look at the fabric.

“They continued filing things and gave discovery to the defense. Usually that’s not something that the defense complains about. They want discovery,” he stated.

Trump’s group argued within the submitting that Smith’s motions include “partisan rhetoric” and prosecutors try to “weaponize the stay to spread political propaganda.”

According to Weissmann, the concept this concern would turn into the topic of a contempt movement says two issues about Trump’s attorneys: “A, that they have no control over their client. B, they’re writing this for an audience unrelated to the court, meaning for sort of the MAGA base.”

“And it’s really not how you litigate,” he added.

Trump’s group have repeatedly leaned on performative antics and delay ways in response to the 4 prosecutions in opposition to him, two of which he may quash if he wins his bid for a second presidency.

Trump has twisted his whirlwind of authorized woes to his benefit by telling voters they’re politically motivated witch hunts and fundraising off of it.